Rain
by onelildustbunni
Summary: An alternate take on New X-men: Childhood's End. Times are changing and life is getting a lot harder for the New X-men...and Julian isn't ready, but maybe Laura can help him through it.
1. Chapter 1

**TITLE: **Rain  
**STARRING:** Hellion and X-23  
**UNIVERSE:** 616 Mainstream/AU  
**RATING:** M  
**SUMMARY:** An alternate take on Childhood's End. Times are changing and life is getting a lot harder for the New X-men...and Julian isn't ready, but maybe Laura can help him through it.  
**SONG: **"Rain (featuring Sarah Kay)" by Klaypex

**A/N: **Please be aware that this story features an alternate universe Laura. This means I have made some alterations to her history and behavior, and am well aware this is not the Laura of the comics. That is on purpose. If you don't like it, don't read-look for my mainstream Laura fics. I have one called _Fall Silently _coming out shortly. If you are intrigued, however, I promise everything will be explained throughout the story.

* * *

**|| RAIN ||**

_"Oh, things change _| _There's no use holding on _| _Because nothing stays the same  
Oh, things change _|_Time passes by so fast _| _Keep out of the rain."_

* * *

**-Prologue-**

The man looks down at the still form on the stretcher, still dripping cold water from its place of death. His eyes—a pale shade of blue—look tired and distant, and his haggard features are set in a grim line. He rubs his sideburn absently, notes he hasn't shaved in a day and now sports what is the equivalent of a three-day beard for most men. Beyond the sideburns, his dark hair is swooped back haphazardly. It's always had a mind of its own, somewhat like him.

But he's not thinking about himself.

He's thinking about something he will have to _do,_ and _soon._

"Shit," he murmurs, to no one.

**…**

_Brrring, brrring._

_Brrring, brrring._

_Brrring, brrring._

_Brrring, brrring._

_Brrring, brrring._

_Brrring, brrring._

_Ca-clink!_

_**BLAMMO! BONK! KA-POW!  
**_

"_**WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?" **_

The girl's voice comes out in a snarl amidst the sounds of a noisy struggle, distorting the sound of the phone and causing an odd crackling sound for a moment. Unbeknownst to her, the man on the other end is holding the phone away from his ear, his teeth gritted. When the yelling stops, he moves the receiver back to his ear, to find that the scuffle is still going on.

"It's me, half-pint," he says into the phone, uncertainly.

"I've _got_ caller ID!" the girl snaps.

"Calm down. I'm callin' to make sure yer okay."

"Of course I'm okay. I'm always okay. Don't I fucking sound _**OKAY **_to you, Logan?" _**BAM! **_ "Your timing sucks though…I'm kinda busy at the moment. Barfight. Can I—" _**BONK! SCUFFLE! **_"—put you on speaker phone?"

"Sure."

Silence for a few moments. The man closes his eyes as he leans his haggard face against the wall. Why does she have to be so _difficult? _Nothing—_nothing_—is ever simple, with the girl. She's piss, vinegar and salt wrapped up in a snarky package of venom. He wonders what he's done to deserve this.

_**ZZZT!**_

_**SNIKT! SHLTT! SHLUNK!**_

"Laura?" Logan almost sounds tentative.

"_**WHAT? **_I was _giving _you an opportunity to talk!" she snaps.

He sighs. "You need to come back."

_**SMASH!**_

"I don't _need_ to come back." _**WACK! **_"Actually, I need to stay as far away as humanely possible from that basket of snakes." _**SHLIT!**_

"It's bad," Logan says. "Laura, the world just got a whole lot scarier and the kids at this school need you. And you need them. The only chance you have is _here_."

_**BOMF!**_

"I think I stand a pretty good chance out here, on my own. Thanks for the loving concern, though, Logan. Eight months go by without so much as a howdy-do, and then—" _**BAM!**_

"_Bitch has knives in her hand!" _

"-you decide I'm going to die out here by myself? You didn't even ask how things were going!" _**BLAMMO!**_

_**"AHHHHHGGG!" **_In the background, on Laura's end.

"_That satisfy your curiosity, jackass?" _she snarls at someone else.

Logan raises his eyebrows. "How are things going?"

A pause. "I just lost my job at the titty bar because some clowns busted in and—_**URRRFF!**_—tried to take me. Boy, are _they_ surprised, let me tell you!" _**SHLUNK! **_

"What—_titty bar?_" Logan asks.

_**KRACK-OWWWW!  
**_

"_**YEOWCH! **_Yeah…I assume you know what that is." A pause. _**SHLUNK! **_"Fucker tried to hit me with a chair. But yeah, I got fired just before this fight broke out." _**SNAP! **_" Apparently, my manager didn't like girls that can kick ass. Something about threatening his masculinity."

Logan guffaws, in laughter, both at what she has said, and what she is doing: apparently fighting, having set the phone on a table nearby. "What'd you do to him?"

"That's not the question to ask."

"_**SON OF A BITCH!" **_a random guy shouts. "My _**FINGERS! YOU—" **_

"Okay, what _should _I be askin'?" Logan asks.

_**SHLUNK! BANG! **_

"Ask about what I did to his car." Laura says finally, huffing for breath.

"Jesus." Logan smirks. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Wait a minute—titty bar—you were _strippin'? _What the fuck—"

"I'm fairly certain you know what that entails."

"But yer just a kid, Laura!"

"_**GRR! **_Two minutes into this call and I want to kill you. I am _not_ a kid! When will you _get_ that?"

"Never, I guess. God. That makes me _sick. _Laura, you get your ass here _right now, _you hear? And, jeez, if you need money, _ask!_"

_BANG! _In the distance. _"Get the fuck outta my bar, you sick freak!" _

"I earn my own way." The voice on the other end of the line pauses. "Thanks, though. And I'm not coming."

"Laura, _please_, just come and—"

"Sorry, pops. I gotta run."

_Click!_

"Fucking hell!" Logan throws his cell phone against the wall, paces back and forth, then sinks in a chair on the other side of the room. He puts his face in his hands and rubs it, tired.

**…**

On the other end, the girl stares at her phone, with unusually vibrant eyes: a brilliant green. The screen is flashing the message _missed call_. Her vision fixes on the words as though entranced. She looks to be around fourteen or fifteen, with pale skin, long, dark hair, and full lips that makes it seem like she is eternally pouting. Her long lashes sink down eventually, and she tosses the phone towards the end of the small mattress.

She's tired. Her clothes are torn and bloodstained-what is left of them, anyways, since she seems to have been in a large scale fight. Her hands are stained red.

Eventually she sleeps.

* * *

**-1-**

* * *

_**ONE DAY EARLIER:  
**_

"Man, you're _still_ doing that?" the boy asks his roommate, his eyebrows raised. He's just left the bathroom, after performing his morning grooming rituals: shaving, showering, brushing his teeth, and combing his hair into order with his fingers and a bit of styling wax. Usually the other boy will be waiting at the door, with his garments rolled into a ball under his arm.

Instead, he's still kneeling on the ground, looking in confusion at his hands.

"I…I don't understand…" comes a mumble.

"Brian…you okay?" He reaches out with his hand. A green glow seeps out of his fingers, and the ball of laundry floats from his arms to the hamper across the room. Finished with this task, he approaches his roommate.

"Something's wrong," Brian says. As he looks up, several dreadlocks shift, and his dark skin is made even darker where the shadows of the blinds fall on his bare back. "Something's wrong!"

"Could you define 'something'?" the first boy asks, folding his arms.

"I dunno. I feel…really weird. Can I tag you?"

"What? _Why?" _

"Relax, Julian."

"I don't feel like spending my entire morning trying to stop myself from running away from you. We've got squad practice, remember?"

"That's just it," Brian says. "I need to test something."

Julian considers, doubt evident in his eyes and face. "Okay."

Brian reaches out and wraps his hand around the other boy's ankle.

"So?"

"Oh my god," the second boy whispers. "Oh my _god…_"

"What?" Julian can't help the edge of impatience that creeps into his voice. He's hungry, and this is going to make him miss breakfast. He shakes his leg free of Brian's hold, and again notes how strange the boy is acting. "Wait…why didn't I run off? What's going on?"

**…**

_**NOW:**_

Laura's head snaps up from where she'd been dosing. The rail car she's in has stopped moving, and there's a man holding out his hand expectantly. He's dressed in a very official looking, navy-blue rail uniform, and has a hat to match.

He looks like he means business.

"_Ticket and ID, _ma'am," he says, sounding frustrated. Probably because he's asked her about three times now. Embarrassed, Laura digs into her jacket pocket, withdraws the requested items, and hands them over.

"Hmm." The man eyes the passport, eyes her, then the passport again. Laura gives him a small, fake smile. He scowls, examines the ticket. Finding nothing amiss, he thrusts it back at her and stalks over to the next person being targeted.

Laura's eyes follow him, and she watches as he begins to harass an old lady reading a newspaper. Her eyebrows arch upwards, and she suddenly looks serious, but the ticketer isn't what is bothering her.

Rather, it is the headline on the newspaper:

_**MUTANTS NOW AN ENDANGERED SPECIES: IS THIS THE END OF THE MENACE? **_

Laura's lips form a round "O" as she zooms in on the newspaper, the tiny print becoming extremely magnified with a twitch of her eye muscles.

_By Christina Rourke_

_Two days ago, no one could have dreamed that such a miracle would be possible. Then it happened—two days ago, Tuesday. On what authorities are referring to as M-day, almost 99% of the world's mutant population were suddenly depowered in what seems to be an act of God. Of the almost two million mutants that had previously been estimated to exist, only 198 powered individuals remain._

_"It has to be a miracle," Keith S. said, when questioned on how he felt to have lost his mutant power: the ability to release a Helium-based gas. "No one understands unless it happens to them. No one gets how alone you really are."_

_When asked how it happened, Keith S. elaborated: "I went to bed a mutant, and woke up a normal kid. I can go to school again…I can work again…it's really a miracle for me."_

The old lady lowers her newspaper and looks out the window, breaking Laura's scrutiny of the article. The girl slumps in her seat and stares straight ahead, her eyes wide. This is bad, just like Logan had said. _Really _bad. Because she—like him—knows what is coming next. Registration acts…concentration camps…an attempt to eradicate the remaining mutants.

She in particular knows what humans are capable of.

_I could have died, _she realizes suddenly. She'd been in another attack on the strip club on early Wednesday morning, before Logan had called. If she had been depowered…she wouldn't have healed from the wounds she'd received.

_I wonder how many people _did.

Laura closes her eyes.

**…**

_**ONE DAY EARLIER: **_

"Okay—guys—settle down," Julian orders his group, amidst the panic and confusion filling the main entry hallway. "We're not helping by adding to all the chaos. We need to handle this—"

"_**WHY NOT ME?**_" a girl bursts, coming down the staircase he and his team are huddled beside. Looking up, Julian sees his red-haired, metal skinned friend-Cessily. The girl made entirely of organic mercury. He feels instantaneous relief. He'd been worried that she would be amongst the depowered.

"Cess—" he starts.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Cessily demands. "Why did all of _them _lose their powers? Why can't _**I**_ have that?"

"Calm down!" He says. "We're trying to figure out what happened right now. Get over here and help us."

After a few moments, the girl joins the group, and Julian runs a hand through his hair. "Okay. So…what do you remember, from last night?"

"Sleeping," Brian says.

"Any dreams?"

"I know I dreamed about _something, _but I can't remember it now," Cessily says. "I just remember thinking how crazy it was when I woke up."

"Huh." Julian thinks back. "Yeah, I'm drawing a blank here, too."

"I do not remember anything, either," another female voice offers, timidly. Julian looks over to the girl leaning on the staircase. Sooraya. She is dressed, head-to-toe, in a black set of robes which he knows to be an abaya and a niqāb. They cover her tanned skin so that only her hands and a strip of skin around her golden-brown eyes are left bare.

"Are you sure you can still use your powers?" Julian asks.

"Yes." The girl looks at Cessily. "Do not be hard on yourself. Allah has a plan…and we are part of it. There is a reason we are still mutants."

"Mmm." Cessily doesn't look convinced, and Brian looks down unhappily. Sooraya has unintentionally told him that he is not a part of her god's plan. Julian sees this and shifts uneasily. He's unhappy, too, that his friend won't be one of them anymore.

But amongst the mixture of emotions he's dealing with right now, one reigns supreme: the extreme, secret relief that he has not lost his powers. The thing that makes him special. He couldn't ever go back to just being a regular human...he just _couldn't_.

"Where's Kevin?" Cessily asks suddenly.

"I think I saw him earlier," Julian says. "In the hallway. He looked happy."

"Oh." Cessily appears crestfallen. The boy puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. That doesn't mean anything. If he really likes you—"

"_**THERE YOU ARE!" **_comes a loud, obnoxious voice. Several students are shoved out of the way, and a familiar being—shaped somewhat like a rock golem—barrels through the resulting gap. "What the hell is goin' on? A whole bunch of kids lost their powers!"

Julian grins. Santo wouldn't be Santo if he wasn't a big dumb rock-and if he had been depowered too, he doesn't know what he would have done. Cessily, Brian and him are his best friends in the world.

"We don't know," Cessily says.

"Aw, Cess, you're still metal," he says. "I figured you woulda got picked for whatever it is that's happening!"

"Yeah." Cessily stares off into space. "I hear that Kevin did."

"Wha—no way! So what happens with you two now?"

"I don't know." The girl looks unhappy. "I guess I'll find out."

"Damn." The boy looks at Julian. "What do we do?"

"Wait, I guess," he replies. "The teachers will talk to us at some point and explain. Hey, Santo…do you remember anything from your dreams?"

"Nada." Santo looks over at the other corner of the room, towards a boy with long brown hair and pale skin. "Hey, there's Kevin now. Why doncha—" he starts to say, but Cessily is already heading in that direction, her expression tense.

"Kevin—" she begins, but the boy she is speaking to is looking away. She stops, seeing the target of his gaze: a fair-haired girl, just emerging from the doorway.

"_Laurie!" _Kevin shouts enthusiastically. "It's the most wonderful thing. Our powers are gone!" He's reaching for the other girls' hand; Cessily lunges forward.

"Kevin, _don't!_" she shouts, coming in between their fingers with barely a moment to spare. His touch catches her cotton tank top instead.

"Oh my god!" the boy says, drawing back in horror. Cessily looks down at the hole in her sleepwear, and then up at him. "Kevin, you didn't—"

"I could have _killed_ her!" he says, not seeming to hear her response. "I could have _killed _Laurie! I—"

"Come on," Cessily says, reaching out and touching his shoulder. "You need to get out of here, get some gloves or something."

Kevin starts, realizing that he's wearing a t-shirt and shorts in a crowded, chaotic room. "Oh my _god._"

"Come on. I'll make sure no one touches you." Cessily steers him towards the staircase. Behind them, the girl named Laurie speaks with her companions: a tall girl with long, silky brown hair; and a boy with enormous red wings.

"What was that all about?" The tall girl asks, her words heavily touched by an accent that seems to be South American in origin. Her slightly tanned skin and large brown eyes support this conjecture.

"I have no idea," Laurie says. "Kevin…has issues. I think."

"He could have killed you," the boy with wings says, his expression serious. "Let's get out of here. We should find—"

Back across the room, Julian looks at his depowered friend. "Well…you seem to be the only one of us. Don't worry…I won't let anything happen to you. You can still be on the team."

"As what? _Towel boy?_" Santo grunts.

"Santo, shut the fuck up," Julian says, with an annoyed expression. "Have some sensitivity, man. This is _Brian _we're talking about."

"Yeah, and if _I_ lost my powers, I'd understand not bein' on the team no more," Santo counters. "Wouldn't want to drag you guys down with me."

"Guys, I'm going to go," Brian says. "Maybe take a nap. I'm getting a headache from all this—"

_**SLEEP! **_Comes a thundering command through all of their brains simultaneously. _**SLEEP! SLEEP! SLEEEP!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks guys, glad you're enjoying the story! :o)

* * *

**-2-**

* * *

_**NOW: **_

Logan raises his head from where he has been bowing it. He is in a bad mood, has been ever since he had to clean up three messes involving the corpses of former students. He has seen a lot of horrible things in his time, but there's nothing like a child dying. Nothing can make him feel worse than seeing innocent kids being the victim of whatever cruel joke the universe has decided to play on them.

He is currently seated at a long metal table, with the other members of the X-men team-the teachers of these children.

The children that are currently lying strewn on the floor-in the depths of an unnatural slumber caused by telepaths-while their elders decide their collective fate.

"I vote we wake them one at a time," the woman near the headmaster's seat says, in her refined, smooth voice. "We make a list…see who needs medical attention soonest…and attend to the students in that order."

"That's going to take a while," the man beside her says, his eyes inscrutable behind the red quartz of his optic visor. His brown eyebrows are knotted together, as per usual, since he is almost never faced with easy decisions.

"We can't just leave them there, without _food_..." a young woman at the other end of the table says in a tone of outrage. She has somewhat bushy brown hair, and light freckles, along with a steady, determined expression. "There's almost two hundred students. Doing it one by one would take _days,_ maybe even _weeks._"

"What about in sections?" a deep male voice asks. Heads turn towards the man and take his visage in. He looks like a giant cat, except for the fact that his fur is blue, and that he is sitting upright in his chair, dressed in a nice white shirt and a pair of slacks. Small round glasses rest on the tabletop before him.

"Elaborate," the leader instructs.

"Well…we could each handle a group of, say, twenty students each. A system could be established for processing the wounded. Having an authority figure present would certainly help to ease the ruckus we experienced earlier."

"That's what I was thinking, Hank. What do the rest of you think?"

"Some of the students will require closer supervision than others, Scott. For example, Kevin Ford…and Laurie Collins." the woman sitting beside him speaks up again. "Let me and the Cuckoos at least perform evaluations of their mental states before waking them. We need to make sure there will be no more deaths…intentional or otherwise."

Hank nods. "I agree with that."

"Kitty? You voiced concerns." Scott looks towards the young woman at the end of the table, who folds her arms.

"How long would this take, Emma?" she asks.

Emma looks at the girl with annoyance. "Several hours, I would think. We can wake the ones whom we deem mentally stable, and they can be processed as Hank suggested. The ones who are not…we will leave sleeping until we can help them resolve the issues, probably tomorrow."

"Logan? What do you think about this?" Scott is talking to _him _now.

"Whatever floats yer boat, slim. I just know I don't care to see no more kids dead."

"Agreed," Emma says. She looks distracted for a moment. "Someone is approaching the institute."

"Great," Scott says. "We don't even know what's going on yet. Can you tell who it is?"

"No, I cannot," Emma says. "I can detect a taxi driver…and another presence, but I see nothing but curious green roses when I try to dig deeper."

Logan sits up. "I got this," he says.

**…**

He reaches the front door a few minutes later, and pushes it open. "Laura!" he calls, seeing a yellow cab in the courtyard.

The girl is leaning over to the driver's window, money between her fingers. She thanks the man, then picks up her back pack and turns to face Logan, her features impassive and apprehensive.

"Hey, old man," she says.

The pair hesitate for a moment. Then they rush together and embrace, patting each other's backs. When they pull away they scrutinize each other, looking for changes. Both find none, and are reassured.

"You came," Logan says, raising his eyebrow. In question.

"Well, yeah, of course I did." Laura wrinkles her nose. "Saw something interesting on the ride here. I'm an endangered species now?"

"Kind of," he replies.

"I should put myself in a cage and charge money for viewings!" she says enthusiastically.

"Thought you were doing that already." Logan's tone is disapproving.

"Well, I can raise my prices then." Laura grins. "Say it's for the World Wildlife fund or something. People _love _that charity bullshit."

He sighs and pats her shoulder, through her leather jacket. "Let's go inside, half-pint. Lots to talk about."

**…**

"Woah, looks like you guys just threw an _awesome _party," Laura says, as she takes in the students, strewn all over the floor in random arrangements. "Now I regret not coming sooner."

"Yeah, it's a party all right," Logan replies, stepping over a body towards a hallway leading away from the main staircase. "I've had to clean up three stiffs so far. Not something I enjoy doin'."

"So why are they all conked out like this?" Laura stops and bends over slightly, to examine a girl that seems to be made of metal.

"Careful. The kid beside her has a nasty death touch," Logan warns. "Don't know if it disables healing factors...or if it's on when he's unconscious."

"_Him?_" She considers the boy strewn out haphazardly on his side, a trickle of blood rolling down from his nose as he'd hit the floor quite hard. "You're kidding."

"Nope." Logan maneuvers over another few bodies. "I recommend not touchin' anyone, just to be safe. Until we decide what to do with them, at least."

"I'm not in the habit of touching people while they sleep anyways." The girl straightens again, and moves to follow the older man, then stops, hearing heartbeat raising. Someone's waking up. Then—very suddenly—a hand reaches out behind her and clamps around her ankle.

"_**AHHH!**_" Laura yelps, startled and frozen in place. _**"IT GOT ME! HELP!" **_

Logan turns around and sees that one of the students seems to have stirred. The Keller kid, his head raised slightly, and his eyes half lidded.

"Is it killing me?" she asks in panic. "_Is it killing me? __**GET IT OFF!**__"_

"That one won't hurt you," Logan replies calmly. "Might annoy you some, but nothin' mortal."

"Wha…" the boy blinks. "What's going on? Why was I out?"

Laura is trained to create profiles of each person she meets, within a few moments. She does this using a combination of visual, olfactory and auditory data, as well as knowledge about different areas of the world. In addition, she is an expert in accents, having spent over two years matching vocal recordings with their regions of origin-and even though the boy's words are slightly slurred at the moment-she can tell that he's from California. The L.A. region. _Moneyed area, _she remembers, as a side note.

"Emma." Logan answers. "Go back to sleep."

"No!" He scrambles to sit up, then looks at the ankle he's holding. "Who're _you?_" he asks, looking up at Laura. She studies him in return. He has dark hair—like hers—and eyes that are somewhere between blue, grey and green. Also, she likes the structure of his face: strong and unyielding, a person who usually gets his way. Like herself.

It takes about three seconds, in total, for the process. She wonders about this later.

Logan raises his eyebrows. He's privy to more information about his environment than the average person. He has a great deal of expertise in body language. This is a combination of his enhanced senses, time spent with animals, and experience with people. In a manner, he perceives all of these different attributes together, overlaid on top of his vision.

And he's just seen Laura light up like a firecracker.

"She's my—" Logan starts.

"Daughter," Laura cuts him off quickly, and the older man considers her. He'd been about to explain that the girl is his clone. She's never had a problem with telling the truth before.

"Name's Laura," she says. "Need a hand up?"

"I'm fine." He shifts, then pushes himself off the floor, and sways back and forth before holding out his arms. Steadying somewhat, he looks at her and grins, somewhat sheepishly. "Usually a lot more coordinated, but I've got a killer headache just now…"

Logan folds his arms, feeling annoyed. He'd wanted his clone to come back to the school and make some friends her age—but of course she would pick the one kid he thinks is trouble waiting to happen. _Of course._

"No you aren't, Keller," he says.

The boy looks at his teacher. "Sure I am."

"Yer all left feet in _my_ class, remember?" Logan asks. "Or do I need to remind you about the time you broke your own nose?"

Keller flushes in embarrassment. Laura looks amused. "It happens," she says. "I've done that a few times myself."

"Really?" the boy looks back at her, a smile forming.

Logan rolls his eyes.

"Come on, you little shits...might as well help us in the wake-up process. _Follow_."

**…**

"I can't believe I rushed up here to help clean a bunch of pizza-faced teenagers off your floor," Laura says, leaning against the wall beside an empty stretcher. At another gurney, the boy from earlier is holding an IV needle, with an uncertain expression, as he regards the unconscious student before him. He looks up as she speaks.

"Where were you before this?" he asks.

"Miami," she says casually.

"I've been there," he says. "On vacation. I've been just about _everywhere._"

Laura straightens, moves over to the stretcher with a vaguely predatory smile. "Is that so?" she asks.

He nods. "Yeah."

"Hit the beaches much?" she asks, leaning over the side rail of the stretcher. _I'd kill to see you in a pair of trunks, _she thinks.

"Well—yeah," he says, his eyes travelling down her top. She can almost _feel _his gaze on her skin, and she anticipates what his touch will feel like, possibly in the next few minutes, if she pulls out all the stops. He seems to like what he sees, since his vital signs are speeding up.

Then he freezes, looks down at the girl in the stretcher that they are leaning over, and then up at Laura's eyes again, and there is now resistance.

Laura raises her eyebrows, looks down at the other female. _"Her?" _she blurts.

"Yeah, kind of." He frowns slightly, reaches out and brushes the unconscious girl's hair out of her face with his free hand. "Sorry."

She says nothing, but bites her lip slightly.

"So what were you doing in Miami?" he asks, conversationally.

"Work," Laura says, leaning back slightly.

"Cool." He looks at her again, his expression a bit more guarded than before. "What kind of work?"

Laura thinks about what she's been doing in the past few years for money: killing people, and taking off her clothes. And then she reasons that the girl in the stretcher between them doesn't look like she does either.

"Bartending," she says. Which is not completely a lie. She _did_ occasionally serve drinks to her customers...two or three jobs ago. Usually out of her navel.

"Really? You don't look that…I mean…you seem kinda young for that." The boy raises his eyebrows slightly. "How old _are_ you?"

"ID says I'm twenty three," Laura says. "I'm about eighteen, though."

"Oh. Me too." He pauses, then holds up the IV needle. "Can you do this? I've never…I mean, I don't want to jab that into her."

"I thought that was like your biological purpose," Laura says lightly, taking the needle. "Can you find me an alcohol swab?"

She is about to ask him why he isn't doing as requested, but a few moments later, a packet floats to rest in front of her-surrounded by a green halo. Laura hesitates, her eyes wide. "What the fuck is _that?_"

"My power," the boy says. "Telekinesis. It means I can move things with my mind."

"Oh. That must come in handy." Laura tears open the packet with her teeth, and swabs the girl's hand, near her wrist. Then she moves in with the needle, and stabs it in a little more viciously than strictly necessary.

"Yeah." He pauses. "I wonder why Frost is keeping her sedated?"

"Probably lost her powers," Laura says nonchalantly.

The boy freezes. "_What?_"

"Well, unless she's really upset she's still a mutant…" Laura says.

"No, no…Sofia _loved _her powers..." the boy grips the side rail. "Oh my god. I can't believe this. She—she controls the wind. Her name is Wind Dancer." He looks up at the girl, his face pale.

"It's not like she's dead or anything," Laura says, feeling irritated. _Why should I care?_

"No." He watches her turn the IV drip on, and sees the fluid slowly draining into the girl's arm.

Nutrients.

"And you're there for her…so I don't see what the problem is," she finishes, smiling grimly at him. "I'll just go see if they've got any more for us yet."

"Okay." The boy bows his head, watching the still face of his girl friend. Laura feels a surge of irritation. Just another injustice to add to the enormous pile of shit that is her life. She's at the door when he speaks again.

"Thanks," he says, smiling slightly. It doesn't reach his eyes now.

"No problem." Laura gives him a small smile back, then pushes the door out of her way and heads up a hallway, towards the main entrance.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews, glad you're enjoying this story! :o)

* * *

**-3-**

* * *

"Well, this is starting to be a little more like I remember things," Laura says to no one in particular, leaning on the doorframe as she examines the group on the sofa. She feels out-of-place, not knowing any of the students in the den.

"Oh—hey!" The metal girl she'd seen lying unconscious bounces up. "You're the new girl, right? Mr. Logan's daughter…Laura?"

"My reputation precedes me," she says. A shiny hand is extended towards her; after a moment she reaches out, takes it, and gives it a strong shake. "You are…?"

"Cessily Kincaid," the girl says. Laura detects from her dialect that the girl is from somewhere in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Washington...Oregon...not California. "Mercury is my X-name. Since, I'm, y'know…made of metal."

"Very clever," Laura says. "I like it. How'd you know who I was?"

"Julian told us about you," the girl says.

"'Julian'?" Laura asks.

"Yeah. He's our leader. He said you were really cool, and said he thinks you should join us."

"I don't do cults," Laura says, wrinkling her nose. "Ever since I heard about that Koolaid thing."

"HAH! No, oh my god, that is funny though. I totally worded that wrong. We're one of the X-squads—the Hellions. We're training to be X-men."

"That—" Laura pauses, turns her head. She can hear voices raising down the hallway raising, in the start of an argument. There's a familiar one amongst them—the boy from earlier. _Julian_. She raises her eyebrows.

_"…fuck off!" _He's saying.

"…_Okay, everyone take a deep breath and __**calm down, **__okay? No one knows what's going on….why this happened…and right now we need to stick together…not attack each other. We have enough enemies." _A boy that Laura hasn't met.

"_What do you mean by 'we', human?" _Julian snaps. _"I know it's hard to tell with you…but last time I checked, 'you' just became a part of 'them'!" _

"_What the hell is your __**problem, **__Keller?" _ Another stranger-this one a girl. She sounds pretty pissed off.

"_Nori, it's okay…" _the unidentified guy says again.

"Something wrong?" Cessily asks, beside her.

"Fight's breaking out," the other girl replies.

"Cessily!" Someone calls from the den. "Get in here!"

The girl reluctantly returns, as Laura moves down the hallway.

"_It's okay, because David knows when we're all up against the wall, he'll be free and clear. Did he tell you about his _little phone call with Harvard yet?" Julian's voice grows louder as Laura approaches. She rounds the corner, and sees him facing two people—a girl, and a boy—with folded arms.

"What?" the girl asks in surprise, looking at the boy beside her. She is wearing heavy-looking metal gloves, and has a shock of choppy blue hair surrounding her heart-shaped face. Her features are oriental, and she speaks with a slight accent which Laura quickly pinpoints as Japanese. More specifically, _Tōkyō-ben-_the dialect of Tokyo, Japan.

"Nori, I—" the boy beside her says, closing his eyes in a wince. He has medium-dark skin, and curly black hair. He speaks with an accent that Laura recognizes as one from Northern Chicago. It is not as strong as it might be, as if it has been diluted.

"It's better this way, Ashida. He doesn't belong here or with you—not anymore." Julian suddenly turns around and sees her—and pales slightly. "Oh, _shit!" _he says, as if she has caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

Laura raises her eyebrows. "You guys fighting or something?"

"No—I—" Julian closes his eyes. "No."

"He's just being his old, nasty self," Nori says. "Hope you weren't trying to impress the new girl, Keller. I'd say it isn't working."

"Laura—you didn't hear what they said to me before this," he says.

"What the hell do I care?" she interrupts. "Your girlfriend might, though…seeing as she's one of 'them' now."

"Please—" Julian's arms unfold. "Don't. Okay?"

"What? _Really?_" Nori asks. "Sofia is-?"

Laura turns her head, hearing someone else approach.

"Sofia is _what?_" a voice asks, in what Laura recognizes to be a Northern Venezuelan accent. The girl from the stretcher is walking towards them, rubbing her arm where the IV needle had been stabbed into it.

"Aw, _crap!_" Julian says. "Sofia—don't listen to whatever these losers say. Okay?"

"I'm a loser?" Laura asks.

"Oh my _god!_" He looks frustrated, having dug himself a hole that just keeps getting deeper.

"Julian, what is going on here?" Sofia asks, her eyebrows raising.

He closes his eyes, and finally Laura decides to cut him some slack. "They were teasing him about you losing your powers…and he tried to defend you," she says. "I've got to go." She leaves the other kids behind, gritting her teeth slightly. It would have been easy to get him into trouble with the other girl...and the strategic thing to do...but for some reason she had chosen not to.

**…**

"So _this _is your clone," the woman says icily, her eyes trained on Laura, but her words are directed to the man standing beside the girl.

"Yep," Logan says. "She's pretty well schooled in everything self defense…should help the kids out quite a bit, if anyone attacks." He pats Laura's shoulder. "Also the most loyal friend they'll ever have, Emma."

"Mmm," Emma says. "I understand you were created in a Weapon X facility?"

"Yes," Laura mumbles. She hates talking about the place she was created in. She had left it almost seven years ago, now. Most people would never guess her origins. She is good at camouflage. Very good. After all...almost all of her design was geared toward the idea that she can blend into her surroundings.

Unless Logan spoils things, which is why she tends to stay away from him as much as possible. She's come back to the school on and off for the entirety of her free existence, each time wanting to leave almost as soon as people began asking her stupid clone questions. _Do you like beer, too? How about cigars? Do you have Wolverine's memories? Are you as hairy as him?_

"Good. You will protect the students, do you understand?" Emma sounds stern.

"I'm not stupid," Laura says, irritated.

"So you say. I will have to see it to believe it, dear." The woman looks at Logan. "I am trusting you. I can't see inside her mind. But if she so much as scratches one of my children…I will break her neck myself. Clear?"

"Crystal," Logan says, before Laura can speak. "Or should I say…diamond?"

"Hrumph." Emma's expression changes to one of a relaxed smile. "What a clever little play on words you did there."

"I try." Logan steers the girl out of the headmistresses' office and down the connecting hallway. "You heard her," he says gruffly, once they are out of Emma's earshot. "_Behave._"

"I made you think otherwise?" Laura asks innocently.

"Not yet," Logan admits begrudgingly. "Let's keep it that way. Hungry, kid?"

"Sure," she replies. They head for the elevator, and then the cafeteria.

**…**

That afternoon, Scott Summers takes Laura to what will be her room at the school. Or, rather, what will be the room she will share with another girl.

"I've put you in with Sooraya," Scott says with a smile, as they walk down the dorm hallway, their feet making shuffling noises on the carpet. "She's a really nice, quiet girl. I'm sure you'll get along famously…but if you don't, let me know. You can choose to room alone, too…but I think you get the full school experience when you share, don't you agree?"

"Absolutely," Laura says, not having paid attention to a word he'd said. She never does. She always allows herself to zone out while he talks. This seems to be a mutually beneficial arrangement, as Scott looks pleased, and she is far less bored.

They reach the door, and Scott knocks on it. "Sooraya?" he calls.

Laura can hear movements inside the room. The door opens, and reveals a girl dressed head to toe in Muslim garb. Her wide brown eyes meet Laura's brilliant green ones.

"Hello, Mr. Summers...and…?" Sooraya asks, in a voice heavy with an accent that the girl recognizes immediately.

"Laura Kinney," she says brightly. "I'm your new roommate."

"Oh!" Sooraya looks at Scott for confirmation, then-seeing his slight nod and encouraging smile-back at Laura. "Welcome to the school. It is…pleasant…to have someone joining us, rather than leaving."

"You might change that opinion shortly," Laura jokes. Seeing the girl doesn't get it, she sighs.

"I'll leave you two to it," Scott says. He heads down the hallway, and Laura steps into the room, her back pack on her shoulder. "So…which bed is mine?"

"I sleep in the one closest to the door," Sooraya says. "If that is a problem—"

"Of course not. _I'm_ the newcomer." Laura moves to the bed and drops her bag on it. "So, where in Afghanistan are you from?"

"How did—" Sooraya begins.

"You have a Sunni accent," Laura says. "And your name is definitely from thereabouts. Not to mention your niqāb…"

"Have you been?" Sooraya asks in surprise.

"Yes." Laura unzips her back pack. "A long time ago. Do you miss home?"

"I—yes." The other girl lowers her head. "Mostly…my mother. She is still there…but I do not know exactly where."

"Seriously? The X-men haven't found her?"

"No. They are trying…" Sooraya sits on her bed. "I pray every day."

"Everyone needs a crutch," Laura says, pulling out a handful of clothes. These-and the ones on her back-make up all of her worldly possessions. "Mine's good drinks and bad boys."

Sooraya does not comment.

"Probably a dangerous combination, but hey." Laura smiles at the other girl. Somehow she likes her, despite the fact that they seem to share little in common. There is something soothing about her presence. "How do you like the school?"

"It is…different." Sooraya looks up again. "I enjoy it…although I find the other students confusing."

"Nothing more confusing than teenagers," Laura agrees. "The last time I was here, I decided a bag of angry snakes would be easier to sort out than the little dramas they get themselves twisted up into."

Sooraya considers this, and smiles slightly. "That is a good description."

"I'm full of them," Laura promises.

**...**

**Later that evening…**

_Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle…_

Laura puts down her book on the bed and looks up at the door expectantly. Someone is approaching it. Judging by the footsteps, the person is not Sooraya, who had left the room earlier to speak to Emma. The steps are of someone heavier. Probably male.

She catches a scent, and raises her eyebrows. It's Julian...but why on earth would he be seeking her out?She is halfway to the door when he knocks, and when she opens it, he brings his fist down to rap again and instead punches her in the face.

"Oh—shit!"

Laura rubs her nose. "It's fine. What's up?"

"Uh—I came here to say thanks. You know…for earlier." Julian pauses. "You know that I really didn't mean to hit you, right?"

"I said, it's fine." She leans against the doorframe, and folds her arms. "And you don't need to thank me...I didn't do anything."

He hesitates. "You made the situation sound good. I was...well..." He leans his elbow on the opposite side of the frame, above his head, lowers his voice. "You have no idea what some of these people at the school are like."

"I'm sure I'll find out," she says in a neutral tone, even though being neutral is a little difficult at this exact moment. She's just made the mistake of looking him in the eye, and finds herself very distracted by the intense pulling feeling that's started in her stomach.

"I also…uh...wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong idea, about me." he says next. This recaptures Laura's attention.

"What idea am I supposed to have?" Laura asks, studying him with arched eyebrows. "That you're a nice guy?"

"Kinda." He looks down for a moment, then back at her eyes. "I can't help what I end up saying, sometimes. They're just so…they make me mad, you know? They can be so incompetent…they don't _deserve_ to be mutants. I'm not trying to be a bad guy…I just think—"

"I didn't ask," Laura points out.

He stops, grins slightly. "Sorry, I don't know what I was going for there."

"Whatever," she says. "We're cool."

"Great," he says, grinning at her. She feels her stomach give another twist.

"Fantastic. Anything else I can help you with?"

He pauses, hesitates. "I'm interested in you," he blurts. "I want to know you better. I-if I wasn't with Sofia-"

"Well, that's your problem…not mine," she says, after a moment.

"I know." Julian pauses. "Wait, I mean—she's not a problem. It's—_we're—_jeez. You know what I mean, right?"

"Sure," Laura says. She smiles easily.

He smiles back, in a less relaxed manner. "Okay, well, I'm going to go. Nice talking, Laura."

"Mmmhmm," she says, deciding not to point out that—really—not that much has been said. "Goodnight."

"Night," he says.

After a few moments of watching him go, she closes her door and bites her lip.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **As always, thanks for the reviews!

* * *

**-4-**

* * *

"Sofia, _please…_I'm begging you," Julian says to the girl on the bed. She is surrounded by open suitcases, and folded clothes. "Don't go. Don't you care about me at all?"

"Yes." The girl places a stack of shirts in one bag. "That is exactly why I must leave, Julian. I will not stay here and let you wait for me to—" she pauses. "To die…because bad times are coming for us all."

"I can't believe you think _leaving _is better than us trying, together." Julian gives her an incredulous look. "We're supposed to lean on each other, during the hard times. That's what gets us through."

Sofia doesn't answer, adds another stack to the case.

"You don't love me, do you?" Julian demands.

"I do." She looks up at him. "But I do not think you love _me._ Not completely. I do not wish to stay and find out…when this door has been closed to me. I would rather leave with my head held high."

"Okay—but—you're _completely_ wrong," he says, his voice full of frustration. "I'd do anything for you. We can't just end like this! I'll come with you."

"You cannot be serious." Sofia gives him a small smile. "Julian…you know you would kill yourself, having to live like a normal human. The X-man…it is your ultimate dream to be one. But not mine."

"That doesn't matter. We—"

"Things change, Julian. Nothing stays the same. We are going two separate ways, to two separate places. And your path…you must walk it without me." Sofia reaches out and touches his chest, over his heart. "You say you will do anything for me. Then do it. Live your life, and let me go."

"But—" Julian grits his teeth. "I can't."

"You will find yourself more capable than you ever imagined," Sofia says. "I have faith in you. I know you will be strong."

"Can I at least write you somewhere?" he asks.

Sofia hesitates. "Not for a while. I want to be over it all when I speak to you next. One day…yes. We will always be friends…and I will see you again. Not soon, though. I will find you when I am ready."

"That's bullshit," Julian says angrily.

"Please do not curse around me. You know I do not like that kind of language."

"I—"

"Let us say goodbye now. The healing will begin sooner then." Sofia holds out her arms. He sweeps her into his and holds her tightly, his head hurting from barely restrained tears.

"I'm going to miss you," he murmurs, into her neck.

"Not as much as I will miss you," Sofia says, her voice suspiciously shaky. "You can be…abrasive…but I do not think I have ever cared about anyone more. Goodbye, Julian, and take care of yourself."

"…you too," he mumbles. They kiss briefly, and then he runs out of the room and slams the door, wanting to kick the shit out of something—or someone. Instead, he flies up to the roof, and sits on the edge, wondering what's happening to him.

Why is everything falling apart?

**…**

"Any idea what this is about?" Cessily asks Laura, sitting down in the empty seat on her left. They are in the rapidly filling auditorium, as requested telepathically by Emma Frost.

"Maybe about the students who lost their powers," Laura suggests, folding her arms across her chest.

Cessily closes her eyes, then opens them again and forces a smile. "How's Sooraya working out as a roomie?"

"She's great. Quiet, which is great." Laura hesitates. "I have enhanced hearing."

"_Oh!" _The other girl's white eyes open wide. "So _that's_ how you heard those guys the other day! I thought that was weird. I guess you _are_ Wolverine's daughter...so it kind of makes sense."

"Yep," Laura says. She hears the auditorium door open, and as a group of students walks in. Julian is amongst them. She instantly stiffens.

"So what were they talking about?" Cessily asks.

"I don't remember," she replies, an easy lie. She doesn't particularly feel like spreading gossip. "I've had a lot going on lately."

"Oh. Well, duh…you _did_ just come to the school, like, a few days ago." Cessily pauses. "Sorry…I keep feeling like you've been here forever. I guess I've had a lot going on, too."

"Everyone has."

The girls look up to see that Julian is approaching them. His eyes are bloodshot, Laura notices immediately. Her throat tightens.

"Hey," she says.

"Hi, Julian. You should sit with us!" Cessily says. "I've been saving a spot for Sooraya. Have you seen her?"

"Nope." He sinks down in the seat beside Laura, and she looks at the floor as she starts to detect the heat radiating from him. This is probably the closest they've been yet. "I think she had an assignment to finish up."

"Are those still _due?_" Cessily asks, alarmed.

"Hell if I know," Julian says. "I didn't do mine…what with the migraine I had for like two days there."

"Did you get Elixir to heal you?"

"Nah. Not asking Josh for _anything. _I could have all my limbs cut off and I still wouldn't consider it." He grins easily, and looks at Cessily, then Laura. "I've about had it with that team of douche-bags."

"They're not _that_ bad," Cessily protests. "To begin with…what about Sofia?"

"You know I don't count her." Julian looks down at his hands, clasped between his knees. "Have any idea what this is going to be about?"

"Laura guessed it would be about the depowered students." Cessily looks over at the other girl and frowns-why is she staring at the floor?

"Possibly. Hey, Santo!" Julian has turned his head, and is calling to the big rock-golem thing approaching their row. "Have you met Laura?"

"Not yet," Santo replies, in a rumbling voice. He waves in her direction. Laura looks up and nods ever so slightly, then forces herself to lean back in her seat.

This is going to be a long speech.

**…**

Surprisingly, it is not.

"Look around you…for this is all that remains. Many of you only know the world where mutants thrived and were on the rise. Where we influenced cultures, built our own cities, and even a country. A world where we numbered in the _million's _and Charles Xavier's dream was finally within our reach…the world we knew is _gone_ and with it most of our hope of survival. We are scattered across the globe, numbering in the hundreds. The few of us on this stage have faced some of the dangers that await us, but I fear _nothing _has prepared us for what is to come."

Emma Frost's voice echoes through the auditorium, firm and cold, as her fingers grip the podium in front of her.

The audience is the entire school-all two hundred and more students.

"You are at your childhood's end," Emma tells her students. "You are mutants in a world that hates and fears you. It's time to _grow up._"

Laura closes her eyes. _Grow up. _When she's never even been a child yet. What does this make her?

"The remaining human students that haven't left already will board a bus in forty-five minutes to take them someplace safe. If you want to say goodbye, now is your chance."

"Oh my god—" Cessily whispers. Julian hangs his head again.

"Dismissed," Emma says.

"You—_oh my god—_no way!" the girl says, covering her mouth. "They _can't!_ Sofia—and Brian—oh _no!_"

"We already said goodbye." Julian replies despondently. He rubs his eyes with his palm. "Well…not Brian. But he's been drawing away ever since he lost his powers, if you noticed."

"I did." Cessily looks at Laura. "Oh, this is _so_ awful. I can't stand stuff like this."

"It's not like they're dying," she offers. She feels bad for the kids, but when it comes down to it, she's still an outsider.

"Good _as_ dead," Julian says. "We'll never see any of them again."

"Oh god. Julian, I'm so—" Cessily says.

"Don't. I don't want to talk about it." He grits his teeth. "I'll get over it."

Laura says nothing, closes her eyes and tries not to show she is pleased to hear that Sofia is leaving. She wonders how long she should wait.

**…**

**Thirty minutes later…**

At the train that will take the depowered students away from the school, Laura waits with the other mutants, in a crowd near the loading door. She is supposed to be saying goodbye, but seeing as she doesn't _know_ any of these people, she feels very awkward. The only benefit of having joined this group is standing in front of her. She'd almost forgotten to breathe when he'd joined the 'farewell group' lead by Frost-and she'd realized he was wearing a uniform. A skin tight, red-and-white uniform with a matching red jacket. She'd leaned against the wall, eyeing him from behind and for the first time agreeing with the notion of costumes, which before had seemed entirely stupid to her.

Now it doesn't seem stupid at all.

"Brian, over here!" Julian calls, waving his hand at his friend, a dark-skinned boy, with dreadlocks. He heads over to the line of still-powered mutants, a duffle bag on his shoulder, and a frown on his face.

"It's been fun, Jules." He reaches out, offering his hand. The other boy shakes it, then they hug briefly, with one arm. _Puerto Rican, _Laura decides finally of his accent.

"I'll write you, okay?" Julian says, his voice cracking slightly. "And as soon as I get money…I'll come out there and visit you. I promise."

"Thought you got disowned." Brian arches his eyebrows.

"I'll work on that." Julian forces a grin. "You stay cool…and safe…and get the girls lined up for me. I'm going to want a couple."

"You got it." Brian smiles grimly in return. "Later man."

"Later," Julian says.

"Oh—_BRIAN!" _Cessily sobs and throws her shiny arms around the boy. "I c-can't! This is too hard! I _hate_ goodbyes!"

"It's okay," Brian says, patting the girl's back. "Great knowing you, Cess. Come visit if you can."

"I w-will." Cessily chokes out another sob, and Laura looks away, feeling awkward. Santo's next. He is much lighter in his farewell than the other two, but it is still evident that he is disturbed. Sooraya says a polite goodbye. Then Brian picks up his bag again and enters the train. "Later, guys," he calls. "Good luck with your school…and becoming X-men, and all that."

"Good luck to you too," Julian calls. Brian disappears from view.

"Oh, _man, _this is even harder than I thought it would be," Cessily says.

"Mmhmmm." Julian reaches up and wipes his nose on his jacket sleeve. "Can't wait till this is over."

"Hey, there's Mark!" Cessily says. _**"MARK! **_Over here!"

**…**

**Forty-five minutes later…**

_**WOOOOOOWOOOOOO! **_The train's whistle blasts, in final warning.

"Ohmigod, _go!_" Cessily says, to the girl that was just embracing her. "Write me, promise!"

"I will!" the girl replies. "Enjoy being a mutie. I'm off to become a rock star, now that it's an option again."

Grinning, the girl picks up her suitcase and runs into the train; the door closes behind her, as she is the last of the students.

"I can't believe they're gone…just like that," Julian says. "Pretty soon Brian's going to be a mile away…then ten miles…then—"

"Don't!" Cessily yelps.

"Let's head back in…I'm hungry," Santo says.

"What the—how can you be hungry at a time like this?" the girl demands.

"Tears always make me hungry, dude," the boy replies easily. "I'm _starvin'._"

"You big freak," Julian says. "I'm going to watch the train out of view."

"That will cause bad luck," Sooraya says. "If you wish to see them again…you should turn away quickly. Otherwise it means goodbye forever."

"We _won't_ see them again." He looks grim. "Might as well cheer them on."

Laura turns, hearing engines in the distance. As does Logan, who is standing at the entrance to the tunnels they had passed through to reach this secret train station.

"Looks like we got trouble," he says. "I smell Sentinels."

"_Bozhe moĭ!" _the tall, enormous man beside him says, in Russian dialect. He has short-cropped dark hair, rugged features, and clear, blue eyes. "Surely you are joking."

"Wish I was, Pete."

Laura whips her head to look at the other children. "They're talking about Sentinels."

"What—" Julian looks at her now.

"I can hear them, too. We've got incoming. Get ready for a fight…"


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:** _Thanks for reviews! :o)**  
**

* * *

**-5-**

* * *

"_**OH MY GOD!" **_Cessily is screaming, and Laura agrees with her. Julian is staring up at them with a similar look of awe and horror. The Sentinels are so much bigger than all of them combined. With each of the giant steps, the ground quakes, and trees fall around them.

And they are the targets.

"Oh crap…oh _crap!_" Santo is saying. "They're _bigger _in person!"

"I don't think they're coming for us," Julian says suddenly.

Laura glances at him. "What makes you think that?"

_**"**_**MUTANTS DETECTED PROTOCAL M ELIMINATE TARGET: INACTIVE X-GENE. IDENTIFYING…STAND BY." **

_"That,"_ Julian says, looking at the train, chugging away at the track, then at the Sentinels again. "We've got to stop them…_now._ Come on." He rises into the air.

_**"KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE BUS!" **_Logan roars. _**"KELLER, GET DOWN HERE! CAN'T SAVE YER ASS UP THERE!" **_

The boy is already out of earshot, flying up towards the head. Laura looks around her desperately. Who will be strong enough to get her where she needs to be? Her eyes fall on 'Pete'. She runs over to him.

"Can you give me a lift?" she asks.

The big man blinks, and looks towards Logan. "Your clone is asking me for a fastball special."

"She can take care of herself. Get her up there, Petey."

"Alright, _da._ Climb up."

_**SNIKT!**_

Moments later, Laura is trying to catch her breath as she shoots through the air, ever upwards, and she hears Pete yell something below about forgetting she doesn't have metal bones. She overshoots the first Sentinel, whizzes by a green blur, and then sees a solid metal surface waiting for her to collide with it: the Sentinel's face.

_**"FUCK!" **_Laura shouts in alarm as she grows closer at an incredible speed. She begins rethinking her idea entirely, and curls into a ball and uses her claws as a shield. An unearthly screech of scraping metal and twisting flesh fills the air. Then—_**SNAP SNAP SNAP!**_—as she reemerges on the other side of the Sentinel's head, her spine realigning as soon as the pressure is released. And now she's free-falling, hurtling towards the ground. She squeezes her eyes shut but suddenly she slows.

_**VRRMM! **_

Laura opens her eyes, looks around and sees Julian floating a few feet away, with a grin on his face. "That was stupid…but probably the most awesome thing I've seen lately."

"More like _painful,_" she replies, her voice flat. Her head still hurts like crazy.

A shower of sparks falls around them, like a curtain. They both look up, to see the enormous Sentinel drifting backwards towards them as it falls, as if in slow motion. _**"SHIT!" **_he exclaims, panicking. He hits Laura with a football-style tackle. They sail through the air just as the enormous metal body sweeps through the area they had just occupied.

_**CCCCRRRRAAAASSSSHHHHHH!**_

_**RRRRRUMMMMBBBLLEEE!**_

"_JESUS!" _ Julian says, looking over his shoulder at the Sentinel sprawled out beneath them. "You took it out by yourself! What—"

Laura points at the other Sentinel, which is now almost at the train. "We're not done."

"Should we—"

But as they are speaking, it becomes apparent that they will be too late. Another rumble has started, and they look on in stunned silence as the another rumble starts, this one deep and sonorous. The Sentinel is at the train in the blink of an eye, arms outstretched, charged for attack.

And what an attack it is.

The resulting shockwave sends them into the rocky outside of the tunnels.

**…**

"_Kaff…kaff..._" Laura coughs. She is conscious of a heavy weight on her back, after a period of unawareness. Remembering the recent events, she realizes that the mass is Julian, and that she had taken the brunt of the impact.

She winces, and raises her head. She hears bones knitting themselves together all over her body. _Crunch crunch crunch crunch..._

"Ughn…" the boy groans. "L-laura? You okay?"

"…move…" she wheezes. He rolls off to the side, and she can now see his face, contorted in a wince. "Aw, man…my arm…"

"Keep still. It might be broken." She sits up, amidst more painful crunches. He hears this and raises his eyebrows. "Laura, are you—"

"I'll heal." She struggles to her feet. "We need to get down there. Can you fly?"

"Yeah." He makes a fist with his undamaged hand; moments later, the pair are zipping towards the disaster scene, which looks like a scene from Dante's inferno. She closes her eyes, smelling the acrid sent of burning flesh.

Julian says nothing as he sets them down and runs towards the flaming area, but his face speaks for him.

**…**

**Two days later…**

"I am the resurrection and the life," a man that looks like a demon—except for the fact that he is blue, and dressed in a suit—says, his head bowed as his burning yellow eyes scan a Bible that is held between his four fingers, along with a rosary. "…He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die."

Laura is wearing a dress loaned to her by Cessily. Her hair is brushed back out of her eyes and swept into a neat bun at the back of her head. She rubs her arm.

As the coffins are interred, she hazards a glance at Julian, who is standing a bit ahead of her, between Cessily and Sooraya. She observes the tense expression on his face, on his friends' faces, and looks down, feeling even more alone than she had a few moments ago.

**…**

**Two hours later…**

Laura heads back to the mansion toward the dorms, her eyes lowered to the ground. She enters the garden and pauses. Reaching up, she undoes the clip holding her hair in place, and shakes it free, then lightly massages her scalp in an attempt to ease the soreness in her sensitive scalp from forcing the hair in unnatural directions. Her head tilts back, and she closes her eyes for a moment, enjoying the feel of the sunlight brushing her skin.

Footsteps. She looks around a rosebush and sees Julian heading towards her, still looking serious. She hesitates. Should she pretend she hasn't seen him, go to her room? She has the vague sense that trying to pursue her own interests would be inappropriate right now.

"Hey," he calls, about twenty feet away now. "Where you going?"

"Inside." She lowers her hands.

"Why?" He stops, a few feet away from her, and she sees that his forehead is wrinkled. "We're going to gather in the dining room for the w-wake." His voice falters slightly, but otherwise he seems to be okay.

Laura hesitates. A lie, or the truth? Her eyes meet his, and the latter wins out. "It's all kinds of awkward. I mean...I just came here last _week. _I hardly know you people, and I don't have the foggiest idea of what I should be doing with myself while you're all...grieving."

Julian frowns. "But you tried to save them."

"Anyone would have." _Except me, a while ago, _she adds mentally.

"It doesn't matter. You have just as much right to be here as we do." He hesitates. "Maybe you'll be one of us even faster."

Laura gives him a sideways look and says nothing. _I'll never be one of you. _

"If it makes you feel better, _I_ like your company," he says, sensing her disbelief. "And I know Cessily and the others do, too. You should join us. We want to get to know you better."

"But-" she closes her eyes. _I don't _want _you to know me better. _"Fine."

When she opens them, she sees that he is studying her face a little more intently, and she wonders if he has seen her hesitation. But then he explains himself. "You look…good. Really good."

She relaxes, and then smiles slightly. "Anyone looks good in formal wear."

"True." He is silent for a few moments and she fingers her hair clip, then the moment is broken by Santo's big, booming voice.

"Man, I could eat a _horse!"_

Both jump slightly, and look to the side. The big boy made of rock stops, takes in the scene, and raises his eyebrows.

"Laura didn't want to come with us, but I talked her into it," Julian says, in an explanatory manner. He's flushing slightly.

"Don't blame her. Must suck to you right now, Laura." Santo pauses. "But hey, there'll be a buffet table. _Free food._"

"God. _Santo!_" the other boy groans.

"What? I'm _hungry!" _Santo grins. "I hope they ordered enough meatlover's."

"Pizza? At a _wake?_" Laura wrinkles her nose. "I doubt it. It's usually fancy fare. Salads and the like."

"What?" The boy sounds outraged. "You mean lil' plates of _rabbit food? _Why the hell would I go then?"

Julian gives him a flat, tired look.

"Oh, right." Santo looks annoyed.

Laura brightens slightly. Perhaps she won't seem all _that_ inappropriate in comparison.

**…**

In the hallway, all of the remaining students are heading towards their dorm rooms when a telepathic message from Emma Frost penetrates their conscious thoughts, like a knife.

_**TO THE DANGER ROOM. YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES. THIS IS A SCHOOL ASSEMBLY OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. WEAR YOUR UNIFORMS.**_

The group containing Julian, Cessily, Santo, Laura and Sooraya stop, eyeing each other with questioning expressions.

"Sounds like some kind of exercise," Cessily offers.

Julian scowls. "I am _not _in the mood right now. I have a migraine."

"Oh come on!" Santo says, grinning. "I'm _always _in the mood to kick ass."

Laura glances at the big rock boy, sharing the sentiment but not commenting.

Julian closes his eyes, rubs his temples for a moment with one hand, then sighs and nods. "Okay. Everyone suit up and meet downstairs in five."

Everyone nods and goes their separate ways-except for Laura. "Where they waiting for you to decide?" she asks, surprised.

"Yeah." He pauses. "I lead the squad, remember?"

"Oh. Right. The Koolaid-cult."

He rolls his eyes. "Hardly. You have a uniform?"

Laura can't resist the temptation. "_Fuck _uniforms. Some recent combat situations taught me the beauty of fighting in my underwear." She smiles sweetly at him. "I suppose that won't work here, though."

Julian's eyes widen slightly. "Uh, probably not...why...how'd you end up...uh..."

"Oh, it's a long and boring story...and Frost _said_ five minutes."

"Right." He pauses. "Okay. See you in a few."

She heads toward the room she shares with Sooraya, patting herself on the back for what she considers to be a clever move. He won't get _that _idea out of his head any time soon.

**…**

After Laura has changed into her usual combat gear-worn black leather pants, a tight halter top that serves the main purpose of keeping her bosom still during violent motions, and a pair of knee-high combat boots-she and Sooraya head down to what now serves as the Danger Room.

Julian arrives shortly afterward, dressed in that damn skintight red-and-white thing again, along with a jacket that is also red. He stops beside the girls, who are standing amongst the crowd of students by the Danger Room door.

"Anyone figure out what's up?" he asks, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Not really," Cessily says, from over Laura's shoulder. "Santo's got an idea though."

"Some kind of test, from what I can figure," the rock-boy says. "Dude, I bet they're going to make us X-men!"

"No _way_," Julian says, intrigued by this idea. "You really think so?"

"I don't see why not," Cessily says, looking a little excited herself. "I mean…we've been training for a _long_ time now. I totally feel ready, and you...you _definitely _are."

"Oh man. That would be so cool…" the boy seems to be zoning out.

Laura wrinkles her nose.

"We've been working for three _years_ towards being real X-men," Julian explains to her. "Combat training…power mastery…danger room sessions…"

"I'd feel ripped off if I were you," she replies. "I've seen people wearing X's that can barely hit the side of a barn with their powers."

"Well…they're not the _good_ X-men, then," Julian says. "We _will _be."

She is about to reply but is interrupted by a sound. She turns her head, and a few moments later, Emma Frost appears around a corner. She stops, leans back with her hands on her hips, and surveys the mass of students in front of the danger room door. "_**CHILDREN!" **_she says, after a moment. The roar of the crowd falls silent as all heads turn, eyes focused on the headmistress of the school.

"Today…everything changes. No more squads. No more field days." She pauses.

"What? You can't be _serious,_" one of three identical girls says. They all have icy blue eyes, pale, blond hair-and faces that are surprisingly similar in structure to that of Emma. They seem upset.

"We won't do it!" another of them says.

"You came here to learn to use your power and find your place in the world. Now we will see what you've learned, and where your place is. There are _two possibilities—_on the battlefield or on the sidelines. You will decide which." She purses her lips. "The exercise is simple. Every man for himself. Last students standing will train to be X-men. The rest do not."

"Was I right, or _was _I?" Santo whispers, excited.

"Blindfold. Nezhno. Ernst. You are excused. Leave now." Emma looks at Laura. "And this exercise will be _non-lethal, _Ms. Kinney."

Laura's eyes widen, as Julian and the others look at her, uncertain.

"What—" he begins.

"Not now," she whispers.

"This feels wrong," Sooraya murmurs.

"You'll be fine. Just think of it as another training exercise, Sooraya."

"What are _you_two worried about?" a girl asks, somewhere behind them. "You're Frost's students." She has a mild accent-_Tōkyō-ben, _which suggests that, like Nori, she is from the Tokyo region of Japan. This is supported by her features: an oval-shaped face, slanted but large eyes-almost black in color-and a finely sculpted nose.

"Yeah, Hisako…and that means we actually _learned_ something." Cessily says, annoyed.

"Okay…guys…_we're_ sticking together, right?" Julian asks, putting his hand on Laura's shoulder as she looks around herself uncertainly. She freezes, looks down at his fingers, then at him, but his eyes are trained on the others.

"Right," Santo says.

"You guys, take the right side of the room. We'll handle the left."

"Aye aye, Captain." Cessily salutes him; the Danger Room doors open.

_**"EVERYONE IN!" **_Emma orders.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Hi guys! Hope you are having a good veterans/remembrance day! I apologize for sucking on updates of late. I am not dead, but I am very close to it: I'm taking two science courses and Calculus Part II. I won't go into all my complaints, but the course is designed to make you fail. Anyways, I'll try to post more during Thanksgiving Break and definitely during Christmas break. Thanks for bearing with me and hope you enjoy! :o)

* * *

******-6-**

Laura closes her eyes, breathing hard through her nose. A boy is falling to his knees in front of her, his skin darkening in bruises where her fists have expertly struck him in a five-spot pressure-point knockout move, from an ancient form of Jujitsu taught to her by a master in her childhood. Which she'd later killed, but that's beside the point.

Around her, the Danger Room has erupted into utter chaos. The noise around her is almost deafening, and the light from various powers almost blinding. She can feel the floor shaking under her feet, and the vibrations travel up her spine through her legs. The air is hot, and cold, and filled with electricity, and dust—and hallucinogens.

Not to mention debris.

It's basically like the craziest rave she's ever been to, and yet—this is welcome. Here, Laura is at home. There's no social graces to worry about. She can concentrate on battle, on simple mechanical skills that come to her as easily as breathing.

She hears a familiar humming noise, and whips around to see Julian fighting off the blue-haired girl from the fight a few days earlier, not ten feet away. Nori looks determined: the air around her crackles with electricity. "You're going _**DOWN, **_Keller!" she shouts, barely audible over the roar of the fight.

"Dream on, Ashida!" Julian retorts, making a fist and pulling upwards. A green disc spreads in the air, and Laura watches as the electricity divides around it, avoiding him.

Nori becomes a blur of movement. Laura watches as the girl zips around the boy and shoves her sparking gauntlets against his back.

"_**AHHH!" **_Julian whips around, but the girl is no longer there-she's behind him again, her fist coming in for a punch as his face turns toward her.

But she's not prepared for Laura.

"_**UGN!" **_she shouts in surprise as the other girl catches her arm before it can touch his face. He blinks, his eyelashes brushing the metal fist.

"What the—" Nori says, releasing a flow of electricity. "This isn't _your_ fight!"

Laura yanks on Nori's arm, rotating it and forcing the other girl down to her knees, her arm pinned behind her back. "It is now," she says, struggling not to instinctively let go against the pain of the charge. "Frost said I couldn't kill you…but I wonder what happens when—" _**SNIKT! **_"—I cut the gloves off."

Nori tries to free her arm, to no avail. "You can't," she says, after a moment. "They're made of steel."

"Oh really?" Laura draws her claw along the surface of the steel, causing a curl of metal to raise in its wake. "Hope I don't hit your hand." Her claws move slightly upwards, to rest against the girl's throat. "Or there's always the chance that I have a little _accident _and _decapitate_ you."

"Laura—what are you _doing?_" Julian asks, looking at her with wide eyes. "Let her _go!"_

"Since you asked so nicely." She withdraws her claws- _**SNAKT!**_

Nori is on her feet in an instant, eyes narrowed. "You're going down, Keller," she says. "But her _first."_

Laura flexes in the middle, her booted foot swinging up like a pendulum and connecting with the other girl's face. Nori stumbles backward, her eyes rolling up in her head, and then sinks to the ground in a semi-sitting position, stunned. She wobbles as she struggles to retain her consciousness, blood rolling down from her noise.

"Laura, that was _my _fight!" Julian says, looking like he's caught between annoyance and uncertainty.

"She was about to deal you a knock-out punch." Laura says.

Julian frowns. "I don't need you to do that," he says, seriously. "I had it in hand."

"I'd say you almost had it in the face. But whatever." Laura wipes her bloody knuckles on her pants.

_**"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" **_

Both teens whip around as they see an enormous mass of granite charging towards them, a shiny metal dome in the center.

Julian reacts on instinct, grabbing the girl around the waist as he shoots straight up into the air. Beneath them, their would-be attacker slams into the wall with a resounding _**BONK!**_

"Now we're even," he comments. "Don't do that again, okay? I can take care of myself."

"Sure." Laura smiles at him, and his mouth opens like he's going to say something. And then he starts smiling, too, just slightly. Neither notices the literal warfare that is going on beneath them, but both _do_ notice the fact that his arm is still around her waist. He reaches for her cheek with his other hand, and dips down slightly, his eyes sliding shut.

Laura's slide shut too, and she can sense that he's about a half-inch away when...

_**ENOUGH!**_

"Aaagh!"

They tumble to the floor and break apart, Julian holding his head, which is _really_ hurting from the icy stab of pain Emma Frost's message has caused.

Laura scrambles to a sitting position and looks up at the control booth window. She sees the headmistress standing with folded arms, glaring directly at _her.  
_

**…**

The air in the Danger Room is murky when the headmistress returns, using her hand as a fan to waft the air around. "Survivors, come here," she says, speaking louder to be heard above the groans coming from the defeated students.

After a moment, when all of the remaining teens have lined up in front of her, the blond telepath puts her hands on her hips and purses her lips.

"Hellion. Mercury. Rockslide. Dust. Elixir. Surge. Wallflower. And…" Emma pauses, looking at Laura, who pales at the attention. "You don't have a training name, do you?"

"How 'bout Miss Wolverine?" Santo rumbles.

"_God, _Santo," Cessily says, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"We'll attend to this matter later, children," Emma says. "The important thing…is that you have all passed this test. Congratulations. Elixir…if you could heal your teammates, please. Hellion and Surge have such spectacular headaches that I am beginning to have one as well."

"No thanks," Julian mumbles.

"Wait a minute—_you're _Hellion?" Laura asks.

He opens his mouth to answer but Emma cuts him off.

"That will be all, students," she says. "For now. Dismissed."

**…**

Outside the Danger Room, the eight winners of the battle royal congregate.

"I really don't want to be on this team," Nori says to the golden boy: Elixir. In contrast to his unusual skin tone, he has white brilliant white hair, and even, white teeth. He's dressed in a similar uniform as Julian's, except that it is white and gold in color.

Laura eyes him for a moment, as he is quite visually appealing. He catches her looking and grins. She raises her eyebrows. Behind him, the girl named Wallflower wears an expression much like that of someone who has sucked on a lemon.

"I'm cool with it," Elixir says.

"Like hell you are! You said earlier—" Nori starts.

"Look…can we _not_ do this right now?" Julian asks, rubbing his forehead and missing the interchange of looks between the pair. "I'm really fucking beat. I feel like an elephant sat on my head."

"Because you're a douche bag," Nori says. "You wouldn't let Josh heal you! What the hell is your problem?!"

"None of your damn business." Julian looks angry.

"Guys, _please!_" Cessily says. "Don't fight. We're a team now."

"No, we _aren't_." Nori folds her arms. "Not till Keller's off it."

"And why should he be off it?" Santo asks.

Julian heads down the hallway, his shoulders hunched as he jams his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Laura hesitates, then follows, leaving the others behind.

"Hi," she says, catching him at the elevator.

"I'm so tired," he mumbles. "Way too much happened today."

"Why didn't you get the heal-boy to touch you up?" Laura leans against the side of the elevator, her eyes soaking him in, now that she doesn't have anything else to distract her. Secretly, she's hoping he'll be interested in continuing the moment they'd almost shared.

"Yesterday was enough," Julian says. "I don't like him. You know that he was a _Reaver_ before he came here?"

Laura says nothing, wondering what he would think if he were to find out all the things that _she_ had been before.

"I'm just in a bad mood. I _buried_ my best friend earlier today. I really didn't need all this extra crap to go with it." He looks up and smiles grimly at her. "You about ready to leave the school?"

"No," Laura says. Their eyes meet for a moment, and his smile becomes more genuine. "You were great today," he says, his tone a little softer

She smiles too. "So were you."

"Thanks."

Laura focuses on his mouth. "You want to go make out?" she hears herself ask.

He blinks. "Uh-_yeah_-that sounds-"

The doors beside them slide open, and they look to the side. "Aw man," Julian says, straightening noticeably. "Hi, Mr. Logan."

Laura's mentor looks at her in disapproval. "Need to talk, half-pint."

She sighs. "Later."

"No, _now_. Let's go."

"But—"

"Laura."

She gives Julian a helpless look, and follows the older man down the hallway.

"Wanted to check up with you." Logan says once they are out of earshot. "Make sure you were coping with what happened yesterday."

"Brilliantly, thanks for asking. Can I go?"

"Laura—" he puts a hand on her shoulder. "I don't like that kid. You should _know_ better…should value yourself more. He's nothin' but trouble."

"_You_ should mind your own business," Laura says.

"You know I'm just looking out for you, half pint."

"Look out for me in other ways." She looks back at the elevator, to where Julian is rubbing the back of his neck. Her expression is one of determination.

Logan sighs. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

**...**

"Are you sure about this?" Julian asks, as the elevator doors close behind them, the button lit up for the mens' dorms. "I mean-we've only known each other for a week-and this-"

"What? It's not that big of a deal."

"It is for me." He pauses. "I've only...the only girl I've ever done stuff with is Sofia...and I knew her for a year and a half first...and she just left and-I miss her." His forehead wrinkles and he looks at her as if she will have the answer. "I think we should-"

Laura cuts him off, reaching up and running her fingers over his jaw as she presses her lips against his. She feels him breath in deeper, and his heartbeat speeds up, pounding in her ears along with her own. He tilts his head slightly, and she lets her hand run down to rest over his heart. She finally pulls away to see his reaction, and she finds that it is agreeable.

"I think you should take me to your room," she whispers.

"Okay," he says, breathing a little harder and nodding. "Okay. _Wow. _Yeah, okay."

She smiles, and he smiles again, and when the door opens they leave holding hands.

**...**

Laura wakes up in his bed a little while later, and he's not there. She rubs her eyes and sits up, still in her fighting gear. He'd been very careful with her, and very firm on the fact that they wouldn't do anything but what she had proposed. Eventually they had slowed their pace and he'd just held her for a while, and then they'd fallen asleep. Or Laura had, anyway.

She glances at the clock and sees that it is now almost eleven. Getting out of the bed she moves to the open window, and becomes conscious of a sound. Shaky breathing. _Must be him._ She hesitates. Maybe he needs to be alone.

After a moment she lifts one leg through the window and ducks her head past the top sill. Reaching up, she grasps a piece of fancy molding on the building's exterior—and with a tiny grunt—begins to climb upward.

Outside, the air is fresh and invigorating-a little chilly, since it is September. She hears the sound again, and looking up she sees him sitting on the roof above, his legs dangling over the edge. He's looking down but his eyes are closed, and she can tell his shoulders are shaking.

Again she hesitates. She's never been great at comforting people.

She's about to start climbing down when there is a sudden tug behind her belly button, and her hands slip away from their holds. The sensation is quite startling, and she instinctively struggles.

"Relax, I won't drop you." Julian leans forward slightly to examine the person he's caught. "_Laura? _What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask the same," she says defensively. "I woke up and you were gone."

"I wanted to do some thinking." He pauses. "Aren't you cold?"

She shakes her head, but shivers.

He hesitates, then shrugs off his jacket. "At least put this on."

Laura shakes her head, but he drapes it around her shoulders anyway, busies himself with zipping up the front. "There," he says softly, pulling her hair out of the collar.

"Thanks. Mind putting me down?"

"Sorry." He deposits her on the roof beside him. "And I'm sorry if you thought...I didn't mean to run out on you or anything. I just needed to think."

She is silent.

"I just…I find it so hard to believe." Julian hangs his head, looks at his hands, which are now clasped between his knees. "Brian is...was...one of my best friends, Laura. I've never lost someone like that before."

"It gets easier," she says softly.

"How? How can it ever get easier?" He frowns.

She draws up her knees to her chest. "You won't think about it so much. It'll always be there…in the background…but other things will distract you."

Julian looks up, gazes across the darkened grounds of the school. "And Sofia."

Laura says nothing.

"I don't understand what I did wrong." His eyebrows draw together. "She didn't even want to keep in touch...Laura, I _love_ her. I've loved her for years. I just...I don't understand it."

"If you don't know what you did, it's probably not your fault," Laura advises, after a few moments. She looks down.

"You think?"

"Only you have the answer to that." She shrugs. "Maybe she was able to admit the cold, hard facts."

"Which are?" Julian is looking at her again.

"A war is coming…and we're on the wrong side." Laura meets his gaze, curious to see his reaction to her prediction. "But _she _isn't."

He thinks about this. "I wouldn't call it the wrong side. We have a _right_ to exist. We're humans. They can't take that from us."

Laura smiles grimly. "You've got a bit to learn there."

"No!" he says, a hint of anger in his voice. "You're wrong about that. Not only are we equal to humans…we're _better_ than them. If anyone should lose rights here…it's the stupid flatscans."

She says nothing again. He looks out across the school grounds. "We should be out avenging the people we lost. _Right now._ And instead…Frost tells us how we have to sit down and take it. Makes my blood boil."

"So go and 'avenge' your friends," Laura says. "Don't just _talk_ about it."

Julian looks at her again, his expression one of hesitation. "I'm—"

"Afraid…just like your friends are."

"I'm not afraid!" He snaps at her. "I'm not afraid of _anything!_"

"I am," Laura says. "I'm very afraid."

Julian stops, studies her. "Of what?"

"Lots of things." She hesitates, then reaches out and puts her hand on his knee. "Being afraid doesn't make you weak…it makes you smarter, and better. If you don't feel fear of some kind, you are reckless…and you'll die first in the fight. The man that told me that…" Laura pauses. "I respected him, very much."

He continues to watch her.

"His name was Tanaka...and he was my first teacher." She pauses. "He died a long time ago." The words burn on her tongue: _I killed him. _But they don't come out.

Julian says nothing for a while. She takes her hand away, and they sit in silence.

"You're a mystery," he says finally. "You seem to have all this…experience. Who are you? _What _are you?"

Laura pauses. Again, she is presented with that question: lie or tell the truth?

He's watching her.

"A hardened serial killer," she says honestly.

He grins. "No, really. What have you done? Where have you been? I'm curious, and I'd…like to get to know you better."

"We don't need to talk for you to do that," Laura says, both as a suggestion and to divert his attention away from her past. She doesn't think he could deal with it, with any of it. He's too naïve...and she doesn't want to be the one to destroy his innocence.

He casts her an uncertain glance out of the corner of his eye.

"Laura…I…tonight was great but..."

"Forget it," she says, feeling stupid. She starts to get to her feet; he reaches up and takes hold of her wrist.

"Thank you," he says, and she can tell he means it. She pauses, then smiles slightly.

"You don't need to thank me."

"Yes, I do." He pauses. "I've never talked with anyone like this. I feel like you don't judge me and...I dunno. It's different, but it makes me feel...better."

"I'm glad." She hesitates. "I like talking to you, too."

They trade smiles.

"Good night."

"Goodnight, Laura."


	7. Chapter 7

******A/N: **Thanks for the reviews! And I am already having so much fun...it's always a blast when the only time you get to sleep is the weekend. And even then you have homework. -_-

* * *

******-7-**

"What's happening?" Laura asks, still holding a towel to her head. She'd been washing her hair when distant screaming and yelling had reached her sensitive ears through the bathroom vents.

_Just another day at Xavier's._

"I do not know," Sooraya says, sounding concerned. Her liquid brown eyes are full of fear and worry over the safety of herself and her friends. "Ms. Frost informed us not to go outside. Perhaps we are under attack?"

"Well, it sounds to me like someone needs help out there. I'm going to go check it out." Laura throws the towel on her bed and heads for the door. Heading down the hallway, she is almost run over by Nori, who is also on her way to find out what's happening.

As she opens the front door, the screams becoming abundantly clear:

"_**NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!" **_

Laura recognizes the voice of Elixir, distorted. Something really especially horrible must be happening. She breaks into a run, and as she rounds the corner, the scene comes into view: the boy is cradling the head of a figure who lay still and unmoving on the ground. With a start, she recognizes Wallflower from the team practice. She looks peaceful.

She stops, realizing why. The girl is covered in a large blossom of blood, gushing gently from a hole in the back of her skull.

Laura looks around. The teachers are already rushing toward the scene: Emma with a look of tense anger and expectation, Wolverine with an expression of pure fury, and Colossus, plainly horrified.

And the girl's teammates are now coming, and Laura recognizes the wave of shock that rushes over them, rooting several to the ground. She's been frozen in such a manner before, usually with the victim's blood still dripping from her claws.

She stops several yards away, not sure of what she should be doing. As the teachers shout orders at each other and begin to wrestle with Elixir—who believes he can bring the girl back to life—Emma Frost turns to her and shoots her with a glare.

_I trusted you to __**PROTECT **__them. _

Laura freezes, her breath catching in her chest, as if a bucket of ice has just been poured down her back.

"What's going on?!" Julian's voice, as he moves toward her. "Is that—oh, _god_—"

"Go _**INSIDE!" **_Frost snaps at everyone. "_**NOW!"**_

Laura watches as the others begin to head back to the school, Colossus carrying the girl's body while Logan drags Elixir along, holding his arms behind his back like a cop arresting a criminal. She remains frozen in place, her hair moving around her in the slight breeze as Frost's words slowly creep down her spine.

"Did you see what happened?" a voice asks. She'd forgotten Julian is standing beside her. "Who—I mean—I can't—"

She looks at the ground, in a mild state of shock.

"You okay?" Julian finally notices her catatonic expression.

She shakes her head. "Yeah, perfect," she says, in a troubled tone. "Let's go inside before anyone else gets killed."

**…**

"I can't _believe_ it," Surge moans.

The students are sitting in the rec room, in a stupor as they try to come to terms with the fact that Wallflower is no longer present. Neither is Elixir, who hasn't been seen since the incident yesterday.

"I don't think anyone can," Julian says seriously. He's sitting beside Laura, and she'd taken pause in her mental self-mutilation to appreciate the feeling of his leg touching hers. But only for a moment. It's her fault; she's the reason all these people are twisted up with grief. She is guilty of causing Wallflower's death, through negligence. She'd let her guard down.

"Poor Josh," Cessily says. "He must be so destroyed right now."

"Seriously," says the one girl whose name Laura doesn't know. She has bright pink hair, solid black eyes, and freckles; in addition, she has enormous butterfly wings rooted in her back. She seems to be younger than the others, perhaps about fourteen or fifteen. "This is so shocking. I've never known anyone who…died…before."

"What about your friends on the bus?" Santo demands amongst the stares directed at the girl.

"Well—um-yeah," she answers. "But you know…that's so big…it's like I don't know it's happened yet, you know?"

Laura stiffens, feeling a new thrill of horror. _The bus. The bus, the students she'd sworn to protect...no wonder Frost is so angry with her..._she feels her heart sinking slowly, and she exhales through her nose.

Beside her, Julian rubs his face with his hands. "Yeah," he says, sounding tired. "Oh, god. How can this week possibly get any shittier?"

"Don't ask," Nori recommends, not looking up.

"Yeah, dude…you just jinxed us," Santo grumbles.

_**BOOOMMM!**_

The students all straighten in their seats as the building rumbles.

**…**

"Oh my god, oh my _**GOD! **_What do we do?!" Cessily gasps.

All around them is chaos. The walls are being destroyed by artillery, the furnishings are being set on fire, and there is blood everywhere the eye can see. Laura can hear armed men moving around on the floor above them, and in the rooms in the East wing, toward which they are heading.

"Oh—_**SHIT!" **_Julian, who has rounded a corner, returns. He is now covering his mouth with the back of his hand, clearly disturbed.

"Be _quiet!" _Laura hisses. Then she sees what has disturbed him, and her lips draw together in a wince. A student lies on the ground, disfigured and dismembered in a grotesque fashion, and as a finishing mark, a cross is cut into his cheek.

Cessily covers her mouth and begins to make high-pitched noises. Nori starts to swear. Santo makes a fist and looks toward the direction of the noises.

"They are going to pay for this, those—" Julian begins, also choosing anger as a coping mechanism.

"No." Laura closes her eyes, making a decision. She can't fail again. She needs to protect them...and that means she will need to do this alone. And blow her cover of normalcy...and lose any friendships that might have been in the making. _Julian too._

She takes a deep breath, then speaks very precisely. "I need you guys to head to the Danger Room, and initiate the panic program. Don't let anyone in, not even me…not until the program's over. You _lock _the fucking door. Got it?"

"No way!" Again it is Julian who speaks up. "We're going to take them down together, all of us! This is what we've been training for, guys—"

"No, it's not." She reaches out and claps a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Frost told me to take care of you guys. If you die, it's on _me._ So listen to what I'm telling you, please. I'll take care of this."

Julian stares at her. "Huh?"

She takes a breath. "Remember when you asked me what I did?"

"What? Are we missin' somethin'?" Santo demands.

"Laura thinks she's going to take care of this, all by herself," Julian says. "But that's bullshit. We're a _team, _and we're going to do _this_ as a team. Right guys?"

_**SNKKT!**_

Everyone flinches backwards at the appearance of the four, razor-sharp claws between the knuckles of her hands. "What I need to be doing right now…this isn't team work. I can't risk you getting hurt. Please, go down to the Danger Room now."

Julian glares at her. "Who are _you_ to tell me what to do?"

Laura raises her eyebrows. She's never had anyone challenge her word, while her claws are visible. She finds herself admiring his nerve, and for a brief moment is reminded of their conversation last night.

"_**AAHHHHGGHHHH!" **_A scream from the distance shatters the moment.

"_**GO!"**_ she shouts, and Cessily thankfully obeys. The others follow. Laura wastes no more time, charging straight ahead, her eyes riveted directly ahead, her fists held ready at her sides.

She crashes into the fray of combatants: students, teachers, and attackers, the latter of which are clearly winning the battle. This will change. Within moments of entering the library she has stabbed one robed assailant in the back, and another in the side of the throat-in front of the terrified six eyes of one physically mutated student-then she whirls around, hearing a distinctive _**VRRMM!**_

"I told you to go downstairs!" she snaps at the boy, who has followed her.

Julian gives her a defiant look. "I'm not like _them, _okay? I can _help!" _

"I—" Laura pauses, wipes hair out of her face. "I don't want you to see this." _This _refers to the blood dripping from the shining blades between her fingers, the slight flush in her face. She's _good_ at killing, very good. Because this is what she was made for.

She is never more alive than when she is taking life from others.

His eyes focus on the drop of blood falling from one point, and his expression wavers for a moment. "They're attacking us…they _deserve_ to get hurt," he says, firmly, as if he's making up his mind.

Laura wrinkles her nose slightly. Julian meets her eyes, and neither says what they are both thinking: _hurt_ is an understatement for what _she_ is doing here. The assailants she has processed will not live for more than a minute or two.

Suddenly, there is a cry in the distance. Laura races to another doorway at the end of the library, the boy in hot pursuit. They hop over bodies and overturned chairs, then tumble out into the adjoining corridor.

"What did you hear?" Julian asks, as the girl looks around. So he knows about her enhanced hearing-Cessily must have told him.

"I think it was Miss Frost," she murmurs. "Is there an elevator around here?"

"Yeah. Come on."

She follows the boy up the hallway and to the elevator shaft, the door of which is open. Peering down, Laura can see cables descending into blackness. Peering up, she sees an obstruction.

"I have to get up there," she says softly.

"Here, I've got you."

His hands are on her hips, and she feels that odd tug behind her navel. A moment later they are rushing up through the still, dark air. She raises her claws in preparation and moments later they burst through the floor of the jammed elevator.

"Your claws are _awesome!" _he says as he sets her down. "Wish I had some."

"I could do with that teleki-whatsit thing myself," Laura replies. They trade grins, then another muffled shriek of pain redraws their attention to the fact that this is a very serious situation.

As they approach the office of Ms. Frost, Laura lays a finger to her lips, softening her footsteps with her ankle muscles. She hears breathing ahead: a soft murmuring sound-as that of someone in pain who is unable to fully express it-and another set of lungs, breathing in a more excited manner, full of anticipation.

An ambush in waiting.

She holds out her hand to Julian, and holds up two digits, trying to warn him. He nods slightly, and they creep toward the source of the noises. And now they are at the slightly open door, peering through the crack into the blackness. With her excellent night vision, Laura can see the soft gleam of the headmistress's diamond skin. The woman is looking right at the girl, with wide, terrified eyes full of pleading. There is duct tape across her lips.

She can hear a grating noise.

Laura reels back on one leg to deliver a side kick to the door, but her companion is way ahead of her. The door glows green, smashes inward, and sweeps Frost's assailant off of her, finally stopping when it reaches the other wall.

"Oh," she says bluntly. "Oh, I guess that works. That's pretty cool."

Julian doesn't answer. He is down on his knees now, his face twisted in the dim green light of his powers—an expression of disgust. "God…Miss Frost…" he says softly.

He is looking at the enormous hunting knife imbedded in the woman's shoulder.

"Mmmmph!" she replies; he rips off the duct tape, and undoes the collar around her neck by pushing a small red button in the center.

"Thank you." Ms. Frost sits up, as if the wound does not even affect her. "X-23, please see to it that my students are safe. I will deal with this…cretin…myself."

"But you're hurt!" Julian says.

Laura holds up her hand. "No. She knows what she needs to do."

They exit Frost's office, and he glances over his shoulder uncertainly when there is a loud _snap! _and an accompanying yelp.

"We need to make sure the floors are clear," Laura says. "If they had Frost hog-tied, it might be that some of the other teachers need help too."

Julian nods slightly and follows her, his brow wrinkled.

**...**

About ten minutes later, they are rushing down the elevator again, to rejoin their friends. Laura closes her eyes and pretends that the darkness is not as scary, and perhaps that they are not in this shaft, desperately afraid of discovering more dead students. Dead students that she actually knows and is starting to like, such as Sooraya and Santo and Cessily.

It's not as easy as she wants it to be.

After setting them down on the ground of the sub basement, Julian finally breaks his brooding silence. "This is so unreal."

"Believe it." She retracts her claws—_**SNAKT!**_—and brushes hair out of her face, with a bitter expression. "The world isn't all it's cracked up to be."

He looks at her, in the dim, flickering light of the sub basement, the power conduits of which have been damaged in the attack. "You sound like you've seen all this before. Like you found out the hard way."

Laura nods. "Just like everyone else."

"No." He rubs his cheek absently, where a spot of blood is caking the skin. "I mean, you _really _found it out. How? What happened?"

"It's a long and boring story." She feigns a grin.

"Nothing about you is boring, Laura," he says seriously. "I want to hear it. Maybe not now…but later…after…okay?"

A moment's pause. Laura looks away. "I can't tell you."

"Yes, you can." He folds his arms. "You're actually some kind of ninja or spy or something. I _saw _you move…I've never seen _anyone_ move like that, and I've lived with the X-men for three years now."

She winces. "I—"

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !" **_

Both heads snap in the direction of the screaming.

"Well, let's go check it out, shall we?" Laura asks.

He swallows and nods. "I fuckin' hate this night," he says, in a weary fashion.


	8. Chapter 8

******A/N: **Yay finals are over! Here's an update. Thanks for the great reviews :o)

* * *

**-8-  
**

* * *

The Danger Room doors are already open when they get there, and what they find inside is absolutely disheartening.

Rocks are everywhere: the remains of Santo, which are smoking slightly, charred and glowing in places. In the center stands a man dressed in the garb of a priest, a bible held in one hand—close to his chest—and in the place of his other, an enormous, distorted metallic appendage.

"_**HE KILLED SANTO!" **_Cessily is screaming, absolutely hysterical.

No one knows what to do. Julian charges into the room, blazing with furious energy. _**"GO TO—" **_he roars, but is cut off.

"Julian, don't, he'll—" Surge shouts.

_**HRRRRUMMMM, **_as the preacher raises the robotic arm. Laura acts on pure instinct, shoving the boy out of the way of the blast. They tumble to the ground together, the metal floor they had just been standing on now a smoking crater.

"I come to this house of hell tonight because my Lord and Savior commands it," the Priest says, in a soft but dangerous voice. "I will not hesitate to carry out His will…and His will is the extermination of such vermin as you. The blood of the demon ends here. Thou shalt not—"

"Was…" a voice at the door. All eyes rivet to the newcomer: a disoriented Elixir, his head leaning against the door jam.

"Josh, get _**OUT **_of here! Go for help!" Laura shouts, still on the floor. Judging from the way the floor is smoking, this man might give her a run for the money. Her heart is still racing.

"Silence!" The Preacher turns to her, and his eyes are strangely clear. Empty. She feels as if she can see into the depths of nothingness, and shudders. And wonders if that is what her eyes look like.

"I have begun my sacred work already," the man says, in the same gentle voice, as if he is correcting a very young child who has been misbehaving. "As commanded by my Lord. I have taken measures. First with the half-human, half-mutant abominations…then with the demonic scent girl…and now I am secure enough in my power to exterminate you at the source: in your nest."

"What—" Josh seems to focus. "You—Laurie—?"

The Preacher pays him no heed. "With this act, I shall cleanse the earth of the bad blood. I shall cleanse it of those who could bring the curse back into being, give it flesh and form."

"He's going to kill us!" Pixie squeals, terrified. "With that robot thing!"

"No, he's not," Laura says slowly, putting several clues together: his manner of speaking, the scents in the air. "That's not a big enough exit. He's a egomaniac...so he's going to blow himself up, and take us with him. I can smell the adrenaline…and the sticks he's wired with."

"Somebody _do_ something!" Cessily says.

Laura prepares herself to pounce, but in the end it is Josh who does something. Golden hands reach around the back of the Preacher's head, and a glow ripples outwards, turning black as pathogens flow from its fingers. "Killed—Laurie—" Josh hisses, between clenched teeth.

The students watch in horror as waves of hate and anger visibly emanate from the boy they have considered their peer. The Preacher's flesh boils and blisters; his eyes roll up in his head as he takes his last breath, then crumples to the floor.

"_**WWARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!" **_Elixir throws back his head, the cords in his neck visibly straining. He looks quite wild.

"Holy shit," Julian says, his eyes frozen on the sight. "He's lost it, he's totally lost it…"

_Click, click, click, _down the hallway. Emma Frost appears in the doorway behind the wild boy; a shimmering wave passes through the air. _**"SLEEP," **_she says. Josh's eyes close, and he topples over, now blissfully unaware of what he has done.

But the others aren't, Laura can tell. Still on the floor, Julian sags against her, his expression one of bewilderment.

She closes her eyes, her eyebrows drawing together.

**…**

"I still can't believe it," Julian is saying, leaning his forehead on his palm. "Josh—well, you know, he was a suck up and a follower—but not a _murderer…_I know losing Laurie must have been...been bad...but—he took it too far."

He looks at his mentor with troubled eyes. "How could he _do_ that, ma'am?" _How could _you _do that? _his mind adds—meaning the snaps that had echoed in the room when they'd left her with her former captor—but not aloud, so she chooses to ignore the latter question.

Ms. Frost regards her pupil over the expanse of her oak desk, her eyes distant, analyzing. "Josh experienced a very deep loss. He is not entirely himself just now. And what he has done…has altered his brain chemistry drastically. He is lucky to have survived." She pauses. "The Elixir we know may never return."

"Oh." Julian looks unsettled, and confused further. "I don't see how a _girl_ could do that to him. I mean, if something had happened to Sofia…sure, I would have been mad as hell, but to kill someone? To nearly kill _myself?_"

"You will understand someday." Ms. Frost gives him a small smile. "Hopefully not too soon, my pet. Why don't you go to bed now…I can sense that you are exhausted, physically and mentally. Things will be better in the morning."

"Okay." Julian nods, then gets to his feet. "Thanks, ma'am. It's great to have someone I can tell everything to."

"I am glad you agree to speak." Frost's smile is now happier, more relaxed. He exits the office, his eyes on the carpet, and heads toward the stairs, since the elevators are out of commission from the attack.

On the way he runs into Laura, who is on her way up, presumably for _her_ counseling session.

"Going to see Ms. Frost?" he asks, pausing in mid-step, but she doesn't stop, acting as if he has not spoken. With a shrug he resumes walking.

**…**

"_Ahhhh…ahhkuch….please…." _

Laura's soft moans stop Julian in his tracks, much later. He raises his eyebrows, the glass of milk in his hand tilting slightly as he looks toward her door. Is she in there with someone else?

He considers this, then shakes his head, the milk slopping back and forth. She's made her interest in him clear. So clear, in fact, that he considers her like a fruit ripe for the plucking. They've even made out, once. So the idea of her being his girlfriend someday has become something inevitable and assured to him, a fact he does not need to doubt in any way.

For a moment, he wonders why he has thought that. Laura is quite attractive, and has a personality unlike any he's encountered before. Why is it unthinkable that she would be coveted by anyone else? What if she gets sick of waiting for him to tell her that he wants to be with her?

His fingers tighten on the glass.

_"Umm…n-no…" _

Julian relaxes. She's dreaming, probably a bad dream. He feels relief, and begins to move down the hall again. He reaches his door and is about to open it when he hears a soft _click _from behind the way he has come, and rapid breathing.

"Mother?" Laura's voice rings out in the hall, and like he has never heard it: full of fear, and shakiness...and an almost heart-wrenching sense of awe and longing, like she's standing at the gates of her version of heaven.

Julian turns, and peering around the corner, sees the girl standing in the middle of the hallway, swaying slightly and staring into space.

"Why?" she asks, softly.

He struggles with himself. Should he try to wake her? Isn't that dangerous? He tries to root through his memories of psychology class, and fails to find a satisfactory answer, only coming up with the vague, unhelpful memory that Alzheimer's is caused by brain rot.

"Don't!" Laura says, her voice full of panic. She stumbles forward, into the wall, but she doesn't recognize it, and he feels a wave of what might be pity for her. She reminds him of a bird hitting a freshly-cleaned glass window.

"Okay, okay." He sets the glass of milk down by his door, then heads toward her. "Laura…you're sleepwalking. You need to wake up."

"No, she's here," Laura replies, startling him. She's been aware of his presence the whole time. "She's in here somewhere."

"Who?" He stops, a few feet away.

"My mother." Laura looks at him, her eyes clear. "I saw her. I smelled her. She's _alive, _she's here…I need to find her. I need to—" she hangs her head. "I don't understand," she says, in a voice he's never heard coming from her before. Pathetic.

Julian guesses almost instantly. "Is your mother dead?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Laura says swiftly, her voice full of urgency.

"Okay, okay," he says again, in a more soothing manner. "If you _do_ want to talk about it…I'm here, you know. Like you were for me. Okay?"

She nods slightly. There is an awkward moment, in which neither knows what to say. Then Laura turns and goes back into her room. The door closes softly behind her, and Julian rubs his neck absentmindedly, wondering if he should have said more. Finally he picks up his glass of milk and heads back to bed.

**…**

"I just can't believe _Santo _isn't here!" Cessily begins tearfully. "I miss him so-"

The boy hasn't yet been recovered. The first attempts had failed, since too much of his body was destroyed by Stryker's attack. Emma has reassured them, however, that she believes he can be reassembled, having made telepathic communication with him.

Nothing is guaranteed.

"Don't!" Julian snaps. "I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

"But he's, like, your _best_ friend!" Pixie comments, from the other sofa.

He grits his teeth.

"So…any word on when classes are resuming?" Surge asks, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"They were going to start on Thursday…but then three-quarters of the student body _died_," Cessily says, wrinkling her nose in an expression of revulsion. "Can we just sit in silence, Nori? Is that too much to ask?"

"God, whatever." Surge gets to her feet.

"Why is she even _on_ this team?!" the metal girl continues, looking at Julian, who is sitting on the sofa with his head hanging low, almost between his knees.

He doesn't answer.

"Please…do not fight." Sooraya's voice is gentle and full of strain.

"Nori, let it go," David urges. "Now's not the time."

"When _is_ the time?!" the girl demands angrily. "They act all high and mighty, like _they're _the only squad to suffer losses—but look at _us! _Laurie's dead, Sofia's gone…we'll be lucky if Josh makes it through the night…and you…" she trails off, her eyes full of fear.

"Nori," he says again, in a gentler tone.

Julian gets to his feet. "You people make me _sick,_" he manages—between clenched teeth—and then he storms out of the rec room.

And smack into Laura, who has been eavesdropping outside.

"What the—why didn't you come in?" he asks her, surprised.

She doesn't answer, instead tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You should have," he says softly. "I think you're the only one here who has any _idea_ of how to handle this. They seriously need your help."

Laura raises her eyebrows. "I can't help anyone," she says.

"Sure you can." He pauses, notes that her hair has slipped into her face again, and—reaching up—tucks it behind her ear for her. "You can be there, when we need to talk. You can listen." He says this in a softer voice, just to her. "And then when you need us...we'll be there. Laura-the other night-the hallway-"

She looks down. "I still don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't really want to talk about what was happening either...when you found me on the roof...but I did, and it made me feel better." His fingers leave her ear, trace along her jaw line. "But if you can't...I understand. Don't avoid me though."

"I wasn't," she mumbles.

"Yeah, you are." His fingers curl under her chin now and raise it gently, coaxing her to look at him. When she does, she sees that his eyes are full of concern...and something else. "I haven't seen you properly since the day everything went to hell. That was a week ago."

"I've been busy."

"With what? There's no homework...and unless you have a secret group of friends or something..." he pauses, remembering his sudden doubts in the hallway the other night. "There's no one else, right?"

"Huh?" Laura blinks.

"You know." He hesitates, then leans forward and presses his lips softly against hers, still holding her chin. She stiffens for a moment, then softens and responds, reaching up and weaving her fingers into his hair. He pulls away after a while. "Like that," he murmurs. "Only I do that. No one else."

"No one else." She smiles at him, and he feels relieved, and smiles back-the first smile he's worn all week. _She makes me smile a lot, _he thinks.

"Good." He slides his hand to her neck. "I want you to be my girl. I think."

"You think?" She leans against him, her eyebrows arched slightly.

"I need more to be sure." He wraps one arm around her waist. "Want to come up to my room and hang out again?"

Laura thinks about this, then nods.

**...**

They are lying on his bed now, about an hour after having crossed paths, and his arms are around her once again. He's in his boxers and she's in her underwear, but here they had stopped, in a gradual fashion, his kisses slowly becoming less urgent and pressing. Laura's ear is pressed against his chest and she's listening to the rhythm of his heart. She finds it reassuring, somehow, the way it keeps on going despite the fact that she is coming to care about him.

This is something she had realized very keenly the night Stryker had come close to ending his life. She had avoided him not only because of the incidents in the hallway-and her fear that he might think differently of her after seeing what she was capable of-but because she had been frightened by the intensity of emotion she felt at the thought of him no longer existing.

The realization had come after the actual event. After everyone had filtered out of the Danger Room, after Julian had been led away by Frost. Laura had stood for a few moments gazing at the still-smoking crater in the floor, and suddenly had been unable to breathe. And it had nothing to do with the scent of heated metal, or the burning smells, or the drying blood she was covered in.

This kind of connection terrifies her, absolutely, since everyone she has ever cared about is now in the ground. Her Sensei Tanaka...her mother...her aunt Debbie, her cousin Megan...her friend, Kiden Nixon...and many more. Except for Logan, that is. She reasons he doesn't count, thanks to the healing factor.

Her enemies are still out there.

She looks up at the boy. His eyes are closed, and his expression is relaxed, his breathing starting to deepen. He's falling asleep-the ultimate display of trust. _He trusts me with his life, _she thinks. He might not be aware of it, but that's what this means to her...and it's dangerous, since she might one day be the one to take that life from him.

More than probably.

For a few moments she considers waking him...and telling him everything. But as she is about to, she sees how peaceful he seems, and stops. Outside of this moment, the last few weeks of his life have left his face almost permanently contorted. She is loathe to deny him a few moments of oblivion. So she lays her head back on his chest and before she knows it, she is asleep too, curled against him in a protective manner.

**...**

The next morning she wakes, and finds that this time he is still holding her with one arm, obviously still asleep. She pushes the covers down and stretches, looks around the room, across at the empty bed that used to be Brian's. Neither has discussed it, but she knows that Julian is very keenly aware of its emptiness.

She hears his heart rate increasing, and knows that he is about to wake. She looks over her shoulder, and a few moments later he opens his eyes.

"Hi," she says.

"Hey," he replies, his voice hoarse with sleep. "What time is it? I forgot-I didn't set an alarm."

"It's still early...seven or so."

"Oh, okay." He pauses, smiles slightly, then reaches up and pulls her down in a movement she hadn't been expecting. She lets out a squeak of sorts and a struggle ensues. After a few moments he begins to tickle her, which has her gasping for air. Most people don't know just how ticklish her enhanced tactile senses make her, but he quickly discovers that she can't breathe when he touches a quarter-sized spot on her lower abdomen.

"S-s-stop!" she begs, as he rolls her over and pins her to the bed with his elbows. "I can't-I need air..." she reaches up and wipes away tears from her silent laughter, amazed she hasn't wet herself or something embarrassing like that.

"You sure?" He inclines his head and kisses her, and suddenly the atmosphere turns more serious. For a few minutes it's casual and unhurried, then Laura's fingers slip down to the waistband of his boxers, and he stops, his features pensive.

She closes her eyes and withdraws her fingers. "I forgot...you're one of those stupid chastity-vow people."

"Am not!" he says. "I just...I want to wait for the right time. You know?"

Laura raises an eyebrow and looks at him again. "Your body says this _is_ the right time."

He grins sheepishly. "I want it to be really special."

"Trust me, there's no way it wouldn't be." She lowers her eyelashes slightly. "I could blow your mind, I promise."

"I don't doubt it." He pauses, and his eyebrows draw together. "You've done it before, haven't you?"

"I may or may not have experienced wonderland." Laura pauses. "You pick."

"How many?"

"Ball park or actual numbers?" she counters.

"There's been a _ball park?_" he asks, in a tone of alarm. She feels his body stiffen against hers, sees his pupils constrict slightly.

"Well...they don't _all_ count," Laura says, a little defensively. "I think about half or three quarters can be dismissed on the basis that nothing was inserted."

Julian sits up, displeasure evident in his expression. She mentally kicks herself, and orders herself to be more careful.

"Oh, come on," she says, trying to sound casual and reassuring."When you're hooking it's bound to happen, I mean-oh, _fuck._" Laura lets her head drop back against the pillow. "I didn't say that, right? This is a bad dream."

She listens to his heart rate speed up considerably, and now she's smelling adrenaline scents. He's getting angry, pretty angry. "Are you-what-_hooking? _As in-"

"Yeah, I rented my garage out! Big whoop, want to fight about it?!" she snaps back. There's no use pussy footing around it anymore.

His nostrils flare..and he takes about a minute to answer her, but when he does his voice is very quiet. "Get the _hell _out of my room."

She opens her eyes and sees the look he's giving her: revulsion and disgust, and thinly veiled hurt. His teeth are gritted.

Laura sits up. "Please let me explain a few things first," she says, her voice steady, even though inside she's frankly terrified. She's never even thought of having this sort of conversation, for real, and now...is it going to happen?

"Get out!" he replies.

"Come on, be reasonable."

"I can't believe I...god. I will _throw_ you through the door if you don't leave on your own."

Laura feels her own anger surge up at the thought that he won't let her explain. "_Fine!" _she snaps, throwing back the covers and getting out of the bed. "Whatever. I don't have time to waste on children like _you _anyway."

He glares at her, and she sees green flashing at the backs of his eyes. She reaches down and pulls on her pants, then her shirt. And turns to him for the final word.

"I hope your first time is just as magical as you want it to be," she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "May there be fireworks, and unicorns, and rainbows coming out of your-"

_**VRRRMMM!**_

_**CRASH!**_

Laura tumbles against the wall of the hallway, more astonished than hurt. The door-which had opened on its own-slams shut, and she is left to digest what has just happened.


	9. Chapter 9

******A/N: **Double update! :o)

* * *

**-9-**

* * *

"Is there something going on between you two?" Cessily asks, bewildered.

She is referring to the fact that they had entered the cafeteria, and Julian-who had been eating a bowl of soup-had responded by immediately dumping it on Laura's sweater and stalking out with his hands jammed into his pockets, a green cloud hovering over his head. Not a word had been spoken.

"He's a little miffed at me right now," Laura admits.

"A _little? _I've literally never seen him that upset."

"Okay, a lot miffed." The other girl pauses. "He's being stupid and jumping to conclusions about stuff. It's kind of a private matter."

"Oh." Cessily pauses. Her eyes widen. _"OH. _You mean-"

"I can't really talk about it," Laura says.

"Oh come on...I won't-"

"He's already ready to kill me as it is." She looks at the mess on her sweater, dabs at the soup, then sighs and strips it off. "Feisty little son of a bitch," she adds under her breath.

"It should wash out." Cessily pauses. "But you can do that later. Let's go out and grab some lunch in town, okay? I'm so sick of the cafeteria fare here."

"You don't even eat it," Laura replies, suspiciously.

"The atmosphere, okay?! It just bugs me. Let's go-we can have a whole bunch of fun, maybe do some shopping. We _deserve _a treat after all the bad times we've had lately, am I right?"

She considers this. "Well, okay. Let me get my jacket though...it's cool out there."

**...**

_**The Grind Stone Cafe  
Westchester Village**_

"Isn't this better?!" Cessily asks brightly, about twenty minutes later. Her hands are curved around a steaming mug of Green tea.

"I guess." Laura takes a sip of her coffee. She never comes to places like this, so when she does, she gets _everything_ added to her beverages: whipped cream, sprinkles, extra syrups, the works. The result is several times more powerful to her than a five-hour-energy.

"Totally." The other girl pauses. "So...I don't know much about you, Laura. Where are you from? What's your favorite music?"

"You wouldn't believe the answers to those questions," Laura replies calmly. She's thought about this a great deal during the past week, and figured after Julian's reaction, she's already hit rock bottom. What's it to her if the other kids decide she isn't one of them?

She'll just go on carrying out Frost's orders to save their lives.

"Especially the music one," she adds.

"I live at a school for mutants, Laura...and I'm made of metal." Cessily grins. "Give me some credit. Tell me!"

"Okay." Laura leans forward slightly. "Let's see. I'm not actually Wolverine's daughter...I'm his clone."

Her companion's grin fades. "Wha-"

She holds up a hand. "Don't interrupt. This is going to be a long story, and I'm already summarizing it in my head...I think I'm on a roll. Okay. So my mom was a world-class geneticist who got paid a bunch of money to produce a duplicate of Logan, because apparently one of him isn't enough."

"Wha-"

"They used a damaged sample, which kind of fits the rest of my life...ironically poetic." Laura pauses. "I was brought up in a training program to produce a heartless assassin. My personality is a telepathically shaped and deposited composite of forty-six of the world's best salesmen, assassins and spies. And two comedians, because they wanted to make sure I can blend in and win trust and acceptance quickly, and who is more lovable than someone who makes you laugh?" She smiles grimly. "I am designed to be able to kill anyone, anywhere, and anytime...and I _have._ I lost count after a hundred."

Cessily is staring at Laura now, her mouth wide open, but no sound is coming out.

"But that's all water under the bridge," Laura says dismissively. "Obviously, I escaped. I kind of blew up their headquarters as a fuck-you for all torture...there might be one or two cockroaches I missed because they're kind of invincible."

"I..." Cessily sits back, and her eyebrows draw together. "D-does Logan-"

"Oh, Logan knows all this," Laura says. "He was very concerned, and tried to talk to me about it. Like he could fix it all with a band aid or something. I set him straight pretty fast."

She raises her hand. "The only things he doesn't know about is the hooking, the grand theft counts, the dealing and the grow-op. He knows about the stripping now, though."

Cessily is utterly silent, her eyes bulging like golf balls.

"But I guess I kind of turned over a new leaf," Laura says. "I stopped the hard-core lifestyle about three years ago as I began to figure some stuff out...and since I came to the school I haven't even been drunk _once. _I've been a regular little angel." She pauses. "Oh, and I like all kinds of music. Some dubstep, some metal...really anything that has a good beat to it."

"I can't...I..." Cessily looks down at her mug, then back up at Laura. "You're not serious, right?"

"I'm entirely serious." The other girl leans over the table again, assumes a bright smile. "I've never told anyone this, except for Logan. You should be flattered...it means I think you're friendship material."

Cessily, however, doesn't smile. Laura hadn't expected her to. Her own smile fades.

"Tell all the other kids," she advises, seriously. "Anyone who will listen. Julian only found out about one of those things and he was pretty angry, so I'm kind of curious to see what will happen if he discovers the rest. He won't sit still long enough to hear me out...and he just gets rid of me if I try to explain, so maybe you'll have more luck."

"Oh my god."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking, and maybe you kids have a right to know about this." Laura's gaze does not waver. "Frost didn't want me at the school, but she thought I could act like a kind of bodyguard for you guys...and I've been doing such a great job so far..."now she looks down, her forehead wrinkled. "There's something else you should know, all of you."

"...how can there be _more?_" Cessily asks weakly.

"Well, there's a scent," Laura says. "It's like a perfume...orange-color. Long story short, I was tortured a whole bunch until I kill absolutely everyone around me if I smell it. So just keep your eye out. It usually pops up in a little glass tube." She pauses. "They named it Trigger scent."

Cessily blinks. "So...wait...Logan and Frost _know_ all of this?"

"Yep." Laura takes a sip of her coffee. "Enough about me-what about _you? _Where are _you_ from?"

"I think I'm going to be sick!" the metal girl moans. "_God,_ Laura! What-I can't-I can't even-you mean, you're able to kill _me_ right now?!"

"I doubt it." Laura arches her eyebrows. "You're not exactly made out of flesh and bone."

"Oh. Right." Cessily pauses, hesitates. "...what part did Julian find out, then?"

"The hooking," Laura says.

"So you two _were_ doing stuff."

"More like weren't, and that's why we got into a fight." Laura pauses, fingers her mug. "It was a stupid fight, now that I think about it. He was being pretty decent, and I guess I was an ass-hat...but he got me _so_ fired up about-" she cuts off and looks over her shoulder, directly at the waitress. Who is smiling at her.

She has a very wide smile.

"X!" the woman says, in a sing-song tone. "How ya doing? I haven't seen you in _ages!"_

"Oh my god." Laura scrambles out of her seat and is about to raise the alert when-

_**KABOOM!**_

**...**

Laura grabs at her abdomen, which is still healing. She looks up at the waitress who isn't a waitress anymore, her starchy uniform having been destroyed in the explosion-along with the rest of the cafe, and the people in it.

Her facility uniform underneath it survived, though.

"Cessily..." she turns her head and catches sight of her companion scooping herself up. "May I introduce you to cockroach number _one._"

"You always thought you were so funny, clone," the woman says, raising a pistol in the air and removing the safety. "I got news for you." She takes aim.

_**BAM!  
**_

"You're _not._" The woman blows smoke from the barrel, and Laura keels over backward, bleeding from both sides of her head. From a neat, round hole.

Cessily covers her mouth in horror. "L-Laura?"

"She's a little busy just now," the woman responds. "Maybe I'll use this time to introduce myself. My name is not _cockroach number one, _it's Kimura...and that there is X-23, the bane of my existence." Kimura tosses her curly brown hair. "I think they named her after her IQ...since she's the dumbest girl I've ever met."

"You _shot_ her!" Cessily manages.

"So I did!" Kimura reaches to her back and produces a long, thin-looking firearm. "And now I'm going to shoot _you._ Any last words?"

"How 'bout _no..." _Laura grunts from the ground.

Kimura grins. "And how are you going to stop me? You and I both know it takes five minutes for your motor core to regenerate enough for you to stand up."

"Dun need t' stnd," the girl replies.

_**SNIKT!**_

Her foot claw pops and draws a line up Kimura's leg.

"I'm going to shoot you again out of sympathy-" the woman begins, but she is suddenly enveloped by a thick orangish cloud emanating from the grenade-like device on her belt, the ring of which is hooked around the tip of Laura's foot claw. The woman begins to make loud choking, coughing noises as she struggles to breathe.

_**"RUN, **_Cessily!" Laura orders, scrambling to her hands and knees and crawling away as fast as she can manage from the mustard-gas fumes. Which is not very fast. She drops to the ground and sucks at the cleaner air, since the cloud is automatically rising.

"I can't leave you!" the other girl says, sounding panicked. "I don't think I can carry you-oh man-we need the institute-ohmigod, I can phone I guess-" she pulls out her cell phone and starts tapping buttons desperately.

_**"RUN!" **_Laura shouts again.

Kimura has emerged from the cloud of mustard gas. "Clever little...clone," she rasps, glaring at the girl. "But I radioed...for reinforcements...you won't make it out again..." she draws back her boot and kicks Laura in the head very hard. _**SNAP!**_

_**"NO!" **_Cessily screeches in terror, but she herself is silenced by Kimura shooting her with the gun she'd threatened her with a moment ago. She seizes-enveloped by a cloud of electricity-and falls to the ground as her world turns black.

**...**

"Erm..."

Laura wakes up a little while later in a pile of rubble. Her skin is smoking, and her head is throbbing. She turns it and throws up a dark bloody mess, then wipes her mouth on her bare arm, her expression showing that she is less than thrilled.

She looks around her, and sees Cessily's phone on the ground, but not the girl herself. She picks it up-and then she hears the approaching sirens.

Scrambling to her feet, she begins to run as if her life depends on it.

**...**

_**The School**_

Laura debates her next moves very carefully. She knows she can't go to Logan, because he will tell Frost, who will chalk it up to yet _another_ failure at protecting her students-and there could be dire consequences. So this is her job, and hers alone. But she needs supplies, and a new outfit, since the one she'd worn out to town is ruined. Also, she needs transportation.

So she washes the gunk off her face, gives her hair a very quick brushing to tame the crow's nest, pulls on some new leather clothes and stuffs her small knapsack full of supplies...and then, swallowing her pride, knocks on Julian's door.

It opens a bit, and he peers through the crack with one blue eye. It turns from inquisitive to furious, and then the panel is slammed shut with impressive force-considering it had not been open all that far to begin with.

"This concerns the well being of one of your cult!" she yells through the wood.

Nothing.

"I swear I only want you for your brain right now!" she adds.

Nothing.

_**"BAD GUYS GOT CESSILY!" **_she yells.

He opens the door a crack again and glares at her with one eye. "Why the hell should I believe you?"

"This." Laura holds up Cessily's cell: an iPhone with a pink-and-white polkadot case. She sees his eyes widen in recognition, and then the crack in the door also widens.

He grabs it from her. "Where is she? Why do you have her phone?!"

"I _said, _bad guys got her." Laura hesitates. "My bad guys. The ones who created me."

Julian raises his eyebrows.

"It's a _really_ long story and I literally do not have time to explain just now," she says. Awkward pause. "Afterward...I would love to, though. If you'll let me. Because our fight was really stupid."

"I think you're a hundred percent insane," he says flatly. "But if Cessily needs our help-we need to get Miss Fros-t-"

"No no no!" Laura says, in a panic. "We _can't_ tell her I fucked up again!"

"_What?_" he asks, in an annoyed and confused tone.

"I'm supposed to be keeping you guys safe." She pauses. "It's part of the long story. I promise I'll explain later...just trust me, we can do this on our own and we can't tell Frost right now."

"My life was great till you showed up in it," Julian says flatly.

Laura closes her eyes, feeling stung. "Okay. It probably was. But right now, Cessily is our priority...okay?"

"Yeah." He pauses. "So...where would they have taken her?"

"I don't know."

"We're getting Miss Frost."

"I didn't say we couldn't find her!" Laura protests. "I know a bunch of guys we can shake up for information."

"I'm not letting Cessily get hurt so you can save face." He begins to brush past her, but she grabs his wrist.

_"Please!" _she begs. "You have to trust me!"

"You haven't given me any reasons to trust you yet," he says coldly.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Laura counters.

His lip curls, and he pauses. "Well...there's...there's..." he realizes he doesn't have any evidence, and he stops, confused. "But you didn't tell me the _truth._"

"Well, how would _you _break something like that to me?" she demands.

"Uh-" He blinks. "Not at _all,_ because I would never _do_ something like that. I'm not stupid, and I value myself. There's nothing lower than a-"

"Yeah, whatever," Laura says, _her_ lip curling now. "I forgot that you're Saint Julian. But this is not the point. The point is, I've never actually lied to you and never would...and I am telling you the truth. Cessily _needs_ us _right now,_ and Frost _can't _know until we've saved her." She pauses. "I could even see you being made an X-man if you help me."

"Really?" Julian noticeably perks up. "Well, I don't care about _that_. If Cessily needs us, that's enough for me. Give me a sec...I'll gear up quick."

**...**

Cessily presses her metal fingers against the glass of the tube around her, her face contorted with screams, but no sound can be heard from the outside.

Kimura is sitting in a folding chair beside a man with choppy blond hair and thin wire glasses. They are holding fruity alcoholic drinks and munching on popcorn as they watch the red laser beam grid slowly decomposing the girl in the tube, atom by atom.

"You really think it'll work?" Kimura asks. "She'll bring the little shit with her?"

"X isn't all that bright, for all her training," the man says, with a calm smile. "And she's pretty ignorant about the resources and reach of our department. I'd say it's a given."

"How do you think he'll turn out?" Kimura asks.

The man shrugs. "I don't know. There's no way of knowing for sure, except by trying. A telekinetic with his range and strength would be damn useful though, especially if the amplification works out."

"Damn useful," Kimura echoes. "To who?"

"Government," he replies. "X is our pet, and she's pet enough. We'll have to wipe her totally clean and possibly spend a few years retraining her...and there's going to be a gestation period of course, at one point we'll have to go easy on her or risk it all being for nothing. Hopefully the powers are inherited."

"Could do another designer clone," Kimura says.

"I'll be the first one to admit that Dr. Kinney was a mad genius when it comes to cloning...and that I'm _no where_ nearly as good as she was. What a sad waste."

"Mmmm." Kimura pauses. "What are you doing with this one here?"

She nods to the glass tube, which is now filled with a puddle of thrashing silver.

"Another order," the man replies. "For Colonel Stryker."

"Thought he snuffed it."

"Yeah, but he paid up front...and his right-hand-man Risman really wants the order done." He pauses. "He's the one that got skinned on that attack they pulled on the spawning grounds, remember? By the Muslim girl."

"Oooh, is _that_ why you'd been training them to go after that robe?!" Kimura asks.

"I'd imagine he wants revenge," the man replies.

"You're a man after my own heart, Harkins," Kimura says.

"Flatterer." Harkins sips his drink. "Speaking of that project...looks like all the action is done here. Shall we go feed it scraps? I cut up a failed subject earlier."

"Let's!" Kimura agrees gleefully, with all the enthusiasm of a five-year-old.


	10. Chapter 10

**__****_A/N:_**_Thank you for the kind reviews! Glad everyone's enjoying the story._

* * *

**-10-**

_**Somewhere over New York City**_

"So where are we going, exactly?" Julian asks, about an hour later.

They are in the air, cruising toward the bay, which sparkles in the afternoon sun. He's got one hand loosely on her back as he concentrates on keeping them both airborne. They're travelling a little slower than they could on a motorcycle, a fact which at first had distressed Laura. Then she'd realized they made up for their lesser velocity in the fact that they could travel in a direct line with no traffic jams to contend with.

Plus, it's nice up here, in the fresh air. The only sounds are those of the wind, Julian's powers, and his breathing. And then there's the fact that this is the first time he has touched her in almost a week, since the fight. Laura had allowed herself a few moments break from worrying about Cessily to enjoy basking in his presence again. That had grown into a small fantasy in which he accepts her past and carries her off to a small cabin in the middle of nowhere to have his way with her. She wonders if he would consider that 'special' enough.

She starts fantasizing about stripping off his uniform. It's a new one-still skin-tight, but this one is red and black, and somehow the lines are even more appealing. And it has a front zipper, she'd noticed that right away, the moment he'd stepped out of his room wearing it.

So when he speaks-after about half an hour of silence-she isn't prepared. "Hmm?" she asks, with a slight, dreamy smile.

He arches his eyebrows. "You know...Cessily. Right?"

"Oh, yeah." She pauses. "There's a guy who plays poker with his buddies at the harbor who acts as the regional snitch. Shouldn't be too hard to scare some information out of him."

"Okay." Julian pauses. "How do you know this stuff?"

"It's all part of my past."

His expression darkens. "You mean you...did stuff with this guy...for money."

Laura grins. "I promise you, there is _no_ amount of money that could tempt me to sleep with sleazy Freddy. I'd cut my own throat first."

Julian's expression doesn't change. "It's not _funny_, Laura. I'm going to spend the rest of my life wondering just who you've...you know."

"'The rest of your life?'" she parrots.

"You know what I meant!" he snaps. "I can't believe you'd ever sink that low. That's something I liked about you right away...that you seemed so confident and smart. You just...know stuff."

"Don't I feel flattered." Laura pauses. "How do you think I know all that stuff?"

Julian considers this. "Not through _that_." His voice is firm.

"I learned some very important lessons from that, actually."

He scowls. "From letting _old men_ wipe _diseases_ all over you?"

"No," she says. "It wasn't like that. I-I did what I needed to, but I still had standards."

"That doesn't make it better!" Julian snaps.

"I've got a healing factor," she continues, ignoring him. "And I'm not sure how you can think I'm smart, yet also think I don't know what a condom is. Do _you_ know what a condom is?"

"Of course I know what a condom is!" he sounds very irritated. "Laura, keep talking and I'll drop you, I swear to god."

"Well, I just have one more thing to say."

"I don't want to hear it."

"It might be comforting."

Julian hesitates. "What?" he asks, his nose wrinkled.

"Almost all the guys who hired me are dead now. So you don't need to keep wondering about who banged me for _'the rest of your life'_."

His eyes widen.

"If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to explain it later...like I said." She pauses. "That would require you sitting still and keeping your little brain-fingers off me for a while. Do you want that?"

"I think I'm going to throw up," he says, his voice wavering.

"God, _everyone _says that!" Laura fumes. "I'm trying to be level with you and tell you the truth, and all you can think about is yourself. It's not like I can be held accountable for the circumstances I was born into!"

"_'Born into'_? Oh my _god_." Julian closes his eyes. "Look, you're right. Let's do this later. If you keep dropping bombs on me while we're flying, chances are I'm going to drop _us_."

"Okay." Laura smiles. He doesn't.

"We're getting close to the bay," he notes. "You should probably tell me the street address now."

"I don't know exactly where it is," Laura says.

Julian turns his head to glare at her.

"I just know it's a big brown building, and that there's a big liner named _Horizons_ parked nearby."

"You don't _park _a boat, Laura!" he says, sounding frustrated. "You _dock_ it."

"And you know this how?"

"My dad had a yacht."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you used to be rich."

Julian's eyes widen. "_What?"_

"When you were saying goodbye to Brian...he mentioned that you got disowned," Laura says. "If a family isn't rich they don't bother about that kind of stuff." She pauses. "Plus, the fact that I can go to a twenty-four hour pharmacy named _Keller's_ almost anywhere in the country kind of supports that conclusion."

"You freak me the hell out," he replies, after a few moments.

"And you freak me out," she retorts. "In a different way."

"I don't-what does that even _mean?_"

Laura hesitates. "I kind of like you, I guess."

Julian is silent for a few moments. "I don't even know what to say to that...not now."

"Before?" she asks.

"Well, I thought I was starting to...like you. Too."

"Like me, like me?"

"Yeah. Like...like you, like you. You know." He pauses. "Wait...that made sense, right?"

"I'm not even sure you were speaking English."

"I'm not even sure what we're talking about anymore." Julian closes his eyes. "You gave me a migraine."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She pauses. "We're getting closer...should probably concentrate."

"I'm not the one who started this stupid conversation in the first place...so I'm more than happy to end it," he replies, his tone full of sarcasm-but his hand tightens slightly on her back.

Laura suddenly senses that his anger-though still present-might be lessening. Ever so slightly.

_Maybe there's still a chance, _she thinks.

**...**

"Are you _sure_ this is the place?" Julian asks, another fifteen minutes later. They are now hovering over a large, rusty-brown metal warehouse, situated very close to the water's edge. Slightly to the South-East of this-in the water-looms a large liner with the name _Horizons _printed in enormous capital letters on the dark bow.

"Well, there's the liner," Laura says.

"There's several warehouses in this area." He points his thumb over his shoulder, and she sees that he is correct. "Any one of them could be the one."

"I guess there's only one way to find out, right?" she asks.

"Right." He lowers his hand and places it on the side of her waist as they descend. "I'm confused. If this guy is a confirmed snitch like you say...how is he still alive?"

"Because everyone knows they're going to need him at some point or another," Laura responds. "It's pretty customary in the criminal world. You don't kill snitches...you pay them enough so they won't talk. Usually your secret is safe. But yes...it's a dangerous job."

"Why would anyone risk their lives like that?" Julian's forehead is wrinkled.

She looks him in his eyes, and her expression softens. _He's so naive, _she thinks, reaching up and brushing a short strand of his hair back into place. "Snitching is a lucrative business...and money makes the world go round. I thought you knew that by now."

"I've always had money," he admits, not pushing her away. "I've never _needed_ it."

"And I hope you never do." She smiles at him. "Come on, let's go crack some skulls."

They head toward the warehouse door, their boots crunching on the gravel. The air around them is eerily still, and Laura sniffs it. _Coke._ So that's what the snitch and his buddies are guarding so diligently.

"How do we get in?" Julian whispers.

"Like this." Laura makes a fist and knocks on the door. _Thok thok thok. _

_"Go see who it is," _comes a voice from inside-muffled to Julian, but much less so to Laura.

"Oh," he says, obviously feeling stupid.

_Thok thok thok, _as Laura raps again, lower than necessary.

"What-" he starts.

"Shhh." She grins at him.

_"If anyone looks at my cards, I'm gonna shoot you._" From very close. "_Can I shoot 'em, Vin?" _

_"Sure, Johnny." _

_"HAHAHA!"_

Louder: _"Who is it?!"_

_**SNKTT!**_

"Oh my god!" Julian says in alarm, covering his mouth slightly in horror. _"Laura!"_

"Relax...he's a sex offender, so he totally deserved it." Laura raises her boot and smashes in the door, sweeping the man to the side where he curls into a ball. _**"WHERE THE HELL IS FREDDY?!" **_she roars.

The room inside explodes into action as the contents leap of from the table and grab for their weapons.

"Uh-Julian-I forgot-there's a distinct possibility we're going to be shot at-" Laura begins.

_**"HOLY FUCK!" **_Julian shouts, grabbing her and raising a shield an instant before they begin firing. The bullets bounce off the green shimmering layer, causing it to ripple like the surface of a pond in the rain. "Why didn't you _warn_ me?!" he demands, his face buried in her neck. She can hear that his heart is pumping very rapidly now.

"Shh, just let them get it out of their systems," Laura advises. "They'll run out of bullets. Eventually."

This prediction comes true a moment later.

"It's two _kids!" _the older man of the bunch-the one named Johnny-exclaims into his cell phone. "Fuckin' A'! They must be after the-"

"Your coke is almost ninety-eight percent impure. Not only that, it's been sloppily diluted with chemicals you derived from household cleaning products." Laura says. "I wouldn't put that crap in my body for anything...and I have a healing factor. No, what I want from you is _information._"

She pushes Julian away and walks toward the group of men, raising her hand.

Not knowing what else to do, he drops the shield so she can pass. She heads to the individual standing beside Johnny: a younger man with brown hair and a goatee. For a few moments she studies him, then reaches out and takes his gun-and points it at his forehead.

"Where is the facility operating out of the East Coast?" Laura asks calmly. "You have three seconds."

"Laura-"

"Not now, Julian. _**One.**_"

"I don't know!" the man says, his voice full of fear.

"_**Two." **_

"I swear I don't know!"

_**"Three.**_"

"Please-I have a-"

Laura draws back the safety on the revolver.

"_**CADILLAC JONES ON THE EAST SIDE! **_He knows!" the man blurts. "Please don't kill me, I don't-I don't know anything!"

She nods slowly, then turns her rifle to the side and shoots Johnny in the forehead.

_**BLAM!**_

_**"LAURA!" **_Julian shouts. The gun is ripped out of her hands. "What the-why did-" he marches up to her, his face full of fury.

Freddy is making squeaking noises.

"Julian, do you have any money?" Laura asks.

The sudden question throws Julian off. "What the-Laura-you just _killed_ a man in front of me! That was _murder!_"

"Actually, I just killed a small crime lord that the police have probably been dogging for _months,_" she replies. "But more importantly, we've done the Kingpin a favor by clearing a piece of shit that is selling polluted drugs under his name. And if I'm not mistaken, Freddy here is crying tears of relief. He'd gotten himself in a bad place and he had no idea how he was going to get out of it."

"H-how did you-" Freddy sniffles.

"The fact that you smelled of fear before you let me in was kind of a give away," Laura replies. "You also smell like dried urine and sweat, but it's all from today. The fact that the drugs are tainted and you guys are working for a man like Kingpin adds up. Johnny was diluting the drugs way too much so he could keep some profits on the side. Problem is...he didn't care what he used to dilute it."

"Yeah." Freddy pauses.

"Okay, so Julian...that money," she says.

With a confused look, the boy starts searching his pockets. "Um, I have...five dollars?"

Laura looks at Freddy.

"That's fine," he says in a wheezy voice. "I owe you anyway."

Julian hands her the money, and she gives it to the man. "So, where am I going to find my man, in actuality?"

**...**

"I can't believe we're going to see the Kingpin," Julian says, a few minutes later. They are in the air again, and this time his arms are around her, with a little more confidence than earlier. "And you're like Sherlock Holmes or something...I'm kind of scared of you."

Laura closes her eyes, smiles slightly. "I just hope we find Cessily before anything bad happens."

"Yeah." Julian speeds up slightly at the thought. "So how does one approach the biggest criminal in New York, I wonder?"

"Knock on his door."

"You can't be serious, Laura. You're not going to-"

"No, we're pretty good friends."

_**"WHAT?!" **_Julian blanches.

"Relax. The hardest part of this will be getting out of the dinner invite." Laura pauses. "Oh, do me a favor...pretend you're not angry at me. He's always bugging me about not having a love interest, and it would be awesome if I got him off my back."

"I can't even keep up with you," he says, his forehead wrinkled. "Your life is insane. I-seriously-how did you manage to seem so _normal _for a while?"

"I didn't tell you much about myself, did I?" Laura replies.

He pauses, considering this. "That's right. You didn't."

"Adjust your course, a little to the West," Laura says. "We'll be at his house in about twenty minutes or so. Make sure you take your shoes off."

"You make it sound like a social visit."

"It kind of is." Pause. "He tried to adopt me, at one point."

Julian closes his eyes.

"So I take it you're some kind of criminal, too." He pauses. "How the _hell _are you Wolverine's daughter? He's an _X-man, _Laura."

"Not while you're flying, remember?"

"Right. Because you're like a heart attack in a bottle." His arms tighten even more around her. "Somehow, I can't think of you being a criminal. You're just...you're not _stupid_ enough."

Laura smiles slightly. "The good criminals are the smart ones."

"But I just can't see you doing stuff that would hurt other people." He pauses. "Well, I still don't understand the...you know, you being a..."

"Prostitute?"

His nose wrinkles. "Right. You're going to explain that away though, correct?"

"Right."

"Okay." Julian glances at her. "I'm still mad at you. But...I don't know. When I'm with you, I don't notice the sky falling...since all my attention is focused on whatever disaster you've dragged me into."

"That's sweet," Laura says.

"No it wasn't," he says in a flat voice, then pauses. "Tonight. Tell me everything tonight. You owe me an explanation."

"I'll tell you everything." And she means it. She lays her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes.

**...**

Fifteen minutes later finds them setting their feet down on a very nicely maintained suburban street, with incredibly green lawns, impressive gardens and artistic houses.

"You've got to be kidding me," Julian says in wonder. "He lives _here_?"

"Shh. It's kind of top secret." She pauses, eyes him critically, licks her thumb and rubs it against his cheek. He stares at her.

"You had dirt." She stops again, then starts fussing with his hair.

"Laura...what the _hell_ are you doing?"

"Well, I want you to look your best."

"I'm in fucking combat gear."

"That's no excuse to look shabby." She pushes the stubborn strand back in place. "There, _perfect. _How do I look?"

"Uh-" Julian pauses. "You've got blood on your...well, all over." His forehead wrinkles. "Why are you splattered with dried blood, Laura?"

"I got blown up earlier. And then I was shot in the head."

She sees his eyes widen. "Don't worry, I totally healed it right up. I think. Damn, I wish I had some wet wipes or something."

"I can probably do it." He runs his hand over one of her arms, and she feels her skin buzzing and tingling as he does something with his mind. "Hey, it worked."

Laura shivers, and takes a deep breath. "That felt _really_, _really _good."

"Huh," he says. He takes a hold of her other hand, runs his fingers up the arm, and she watches as the blood peels off in little green curls. Her eyes turn up to his, and she's tempted to forget all about Cessily.

"Okay, I think you're good." He lets go of her hand, and she nods slightly.

They turn and head toward the door, and then Laura rings the doorbell. As footsteps approach the structure, she reaches out and wraps her fingers around his, and he doesn't shake them away, but presses his palm against hers.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **And as always...thanks for all the great reviews! I'm so glad others like this story! I think it's something I've been wanting to tell for a long time.

* * *

**-11-**

* * *

"Hey, guys, a whole bunch of people are missing!" Pixie says as she enters the rec room.

Nori and David are sitting on one couch, and Sooraya. There is also a green reptilian boy, and a girl covered in curling tattoos.

"Yeah, we _know_ that," Nori says. "They were put out of commission in the last attack, remember?"

"No no no!" Pixie's wings flutter. "I mean, like Cessily...and Julian...and Laura. I haven't seen them _anywhere, _have you?"

"Why should I care what Julian does with his time?" Nori retorts flippantly. "He's probably doing something selfish, like scheming how to make David leave the school."

**...**

The door opens, and Julian and Laura find themselves presented with the sawed-off end of a double barrel shotgun.

_**"YES?" **_the man holding it demands roughly. He has a thick moustache, and he's wearing dark glasses.

"We're here to see Mr. Fisk," Laura says.

"I don't know no Mr. Fisk," the man replies.

Julian gazes down the barrels of the shotgun. "Why do people keep trying to shoot me today?"

"Not now." Laura's eyebrows draw together. "He'll want to see me. My name is Laura Kinney, and I-"

"I _said, _I dunno about no Mr. Fisk, _**GOT IT?!" **_The man draws back the safety.

"Julian-" she begins, but he's way ahead of her. The shotgun goes off, but the bullets never leave the chamber, and the firearm lets out a cloud of smoke.

"Oh, nice." Laura pauses, then reaches out and brushes the gun out of the way. "Way to be, stupid...fire on guests in front of the whole street and you're going to blow his cover. Come on, Julian."

"I'm not really sure I want to," he says, but he does as instructed, and almost walks into her as she stoops to remove her shoes. The door-lackey looks furious.

"I didn't say you could come in!" he shouts.

"You're welcome to try and stop us," Julian suggests, also kicking off his boots. "But I'll warn you...I just recently learned I can send people into the atmosphere if they annoy me."

"For real?" Laura asks.

"Frost wanted me to work on none-offensive combat moves," he replies. "Okay, so where do we go now?"

"He's probably in his study. Are you going to be a gentleman and show us up or will we have to find out own way?" This latter part is addressed to the man, who is still holding the shot gun, a scowl on his face.

After a moment, he nods and gestures for them to follow. Julian grins at her, and she smiles back, relieved. She didn't think the Kingpin would be happy if she killed the man he trusts enough to guard his front door, so a bloodless solution is fantastic.

They climb a flight of white-carpeted stairs and enter a large office room, at the end of which sits a familiar, enormous figure, dressed in an immaculate white suit.

He looks up, and his inscrutable face shows surprise. "_Laura?_" he asks.

"One and the same," Laura replies. "Hello, Mr. Fisk."

"Come in! Let me get a look at you. They're all right, Joel."

The man named 'Joel' nods and steps aside, relief evident on his face.

Julian follows the girl in, his hands in loose fists at his sides. He studies the man who is the lord of crime in New York and in much of his country, as well as overseas. The Kingpin is very obese, with a round face and small, calculating eyes. His expression seems to be normally aggressive, but he's smiling right now, at Laura-who has obviously impressed him in the past.

"How are you?" he asks her.

"Surviving." Laura pauses. "You should probably know...Johnny down at the brown warehouse...worked with Freddy...he was screwing around with your coke."

Mr. Fisk arches his eyebrows.

"I trust you took care of it?"

"Johnny won't be screwing anything now."

The Kingpin smiles, then his eyes drift over to Julian. "And this is...?"

"He's from the school I go to now." She pauses. "His name is Julian. Julian, this is Mr. Fisk."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Julian says, then swallows nervously. He wonders at his choice to hang around Laura. Not only is she the daughter of Wolverine, but she also seems to be someone endeared by the Kingpin of crime. _I sure know how to pick 'em._

"And I am pleased to meet you." Mr. Fisk looks at Laura. "It's about time. I was starting to worry."

"I know. So was I." Laura pauses. "Mr. Fisk-I need help..."

**...**

"And you're sure you can't stay to dinner?" the Kingpin asks.

"Not today," Laura says. "How about the weekend?"

"Not Saturday. But Sunday...yes." Mr. Fisk pauses. "I'll invite a few of our other friends and we can make a proper party of it."

"Sounds fantastic...right Julian?" She looks at him expectantly.

"Errr...sure, why not?" Julian shrugs. "I'm not really doing anything important."

"Excellent." Mr. Fisk looks pleased. "I wish you good luck in your endeavor, Laura...let me know how it works out for you."

"I totally will."

They leave the study, led by Joel again. Down the stairs they go and out the door, and when it closes, Julian finally blurts it out: "I can't believe he gave you a fucking _bazooka._"

"It's so awesome!" Laura squeals, petting the firearm. "I can't wait to hit Kimura in the face. No, wait, I have to make it count. Julian, help me make this the biggest explosion in history, please."

"I'll do my best." He pauses. "So...to the square now, right?"

"Yep." Laura lifts the strap and settles it around her torso, then shifts it to her back. "And make it quick. We've spent quite a bit of time getting the info so far."

Julian looks up at the sun, and realizes-with a start-that it's hanging low in the sky.

"Right," he says, wrapping his arms around her waist.

**... **

Cessily is almost incoherent when the laser grid disappears. She lays her head against the lining of the pod and closes her eyes, trying not to shake, trying to hold on to her surroundings. _Must...stay...human..._she thinks, struggling to keep her form. It would be so easy to turn into a puddle, to give up thinking altogether, but she doesn't.

She can't give up, not now...not after what Harkins showed her earlier-the reason he was taking her mercury. The hellhounds.

There is a commotion going on around her: people yelling, sirens blaring, lights flashing. She can't make out what's happening. Harkins is shouting orders, and so is Kimura. Cessily raises her head again and peers out-and frowns.

They look excited. Both are smiling.

_Thissn' good, _she thinks.

**...**

"What the fuck _**IS **_this place?!" Julian asks, a half hour later. He's holding up a thick green shield-bubble, and Laura's leaning against his back, clutching at her stomach. _She's been hit. _He feels a wave of panic at the thought.

"The place that made me." Laura pauses. "Well, not literally _this_ location...in another one of their bases."

"But-" he looks over his shoulder. "You're Wolverine's daughter."

"Not quite." She makes a fist. _**SNKKT! **_"But we'll talk about that later."

"Yeah, yeah." Julian expands the bubble. "Did you get hit?"

"It's nothing I won't heal from. Let me out-I have asses to kick."

"You sure? I can probably handle this."

"No, let me out. But keep _yourself _shielded."

"Cool." He forms a door at the end of the bubble, and a few moments later she streaks out, her claws at the ready. Julian watches as she begins to slice her way through their opponents, for a moment distracted from fighting himself. How does she move so quickly, so precisely? He watches in astonishment as she launches herself in the air and twists so she's attacking four men at once, like a kind of human blender.

_**BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA-**_ against his shield.

"Oh, yeah," he says with a start. He drops the field for a few moments, to snatch away the man's firearm. For a split second he considers firing with it, then he decides against it and uses it as a club to hit his opponent's head with. _**THONK!**_

"Julian..._**SHIELD!" **_ yells Laura as she whips by, three men in hot pursuit.

He raises it quickly and just misses the next wave of bullets. Then grabs her followers and slams them backward, into the soldiers that have just fired on him.

"Oh...that was cool," Laura says, bending over and panting.

He grins. "How 'bout a _thanks_?"

"I'll send you a gift basket." Laura reaches behind herself and grabs the barrel of the high-tech shotgun being pointed at her head, uses it as a fulcrum to pull the man holding it over her head. Snatches the firearm from him, aims it at _his_ head and fires, execution style. _**BLAM!**_

_"Laura!" _Julian grabs the shotgun from her, his face pale. "We can't _kill _them-they're _people._"

She looks up at him, and then beyond him-and she also blanches.

"Actually, no one cares if you kill them," Kimura says. "They're cannon fodder. If someone kills _you _ on the other hand..." she's holding a tazer to the back of Julian's head. "We'll all be _celebrating._"

"And who the fuck are you?" he asks, rudely.

"Ooohh-hh I like this one, clone!" Kimura grins. "Think turning him into a vegetable will fix the attitude problem?" Her finger moves toward the trigger.

"Julian-_duck!_" Laura shouts, launching herself into the air.

He sees her coming, does as instructed, and when Kimura pulls the trigger, the arc of electricity has no target-but she is otherwise occupied with the fact that the girl is trying to stab her in the face with her claws.

"_**ARRRGHHH! **_Stupid clone...like dealing with an angry housecat." Kimura grabs her by the hair and dashes her against the ground. "Gotta show 'em who's boss."

"Get your hands off of her!" Julian shouts.

Kimura glances at him. "Is this your _boyfriend, _X?" the woman asks gleefully. But she doesn't wait for an answer: in one smooth motion she reaches to her back, pulls out a crossbow and shoots Laura in the back of the head.

Julian's face twists. Kimura is suddenly slammed backward and upside down into the concrete laboratory wall behind, surrounded by green light and spider web cracks.

He shakes a finger in front of her face, having trouble forming words. His teeth are clenched too tightly, and his throat feels like it's closing off. "I will fucking _end_ you, I swear to god!" he manages finally, his eyes burning.

"Do it!" Laura calls from the floor. He looks around in surprise and sees that she is now holding the crossbow bolt. "Destroy her. I can't do it."

"What?" He sounds confused. "You're okay?"

"It's not a good day for my head, but yeah, I've got it." She sits up. "Seriously. Kimura needs her clock cleaned...and I think you could do it."

"I'm fine with cleaning her clock," Julian says. "But I'm not going to...you know."

"Too bad you're such a pussy," Kimura taunts.

"Julian, I swear to god that is the most rotten human being on this planet!" Laura says desperately. "I-I-she rapes kittens on her free time! _Please, _kill her."

"I-_what?_" He turns to her, his forehead wrinkled. "Kittens? What the _hell_, Laura?"

"I don't know. I just got shot in the head." She reaches up and rubs the area absently. "But that's not important. What is important is...there's a time and a place for mercy," Laura says. "This isn't it. You _need_ to put her down for good. You're the only one of us two that can do it."

"She's right!" Kimura says, in a sing song voice. "I'd do it, if I were you. I mean, I just shot her in the _head._ I _am_ a rotten person."

Julian looks back at the woman. "No...no, I can't sink to her level. But you know that trick that Ms. Frost taught me?"

_**VRRRRRMMM!  
**_

"Wow," Laura says, gazing up at the hole. Kimura is now a little green speck.

"Place needed more light anyway." He looks at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. But we need to find Cessily, _now._"

"Agreed." He pauses. "You had me scared."

"Careful. You might accidentally flatter me or something."

"Shut up."

They head down the hallway, shoulders squared and ready for anything...or so they believe.

**...**

"Oh my god," Laura says, as they enter the room in which the scent trail of Cessily ends: a white-tiled laboratory room filled with metal equipment...and in the center, a smashed glass tube with a puddle of metal on the bottom. Half-human shaped.

_**"CESSILY!" **_Julian shouts, running into the room and holding out his hands. Some of the metal bleeds onto his fingers. "Oh god-oh god-come back-you can't be-"

Her face reforms, her eyes wide with terror. _**"BEHIND YOU!" **_she squeals.

_**SPLAT!**_

Julian looks at his shoulder, out of which is now sticking a dart. "What the...hell..." his eyes roll up in his head, and he collapses.

_**"JULIAN!" **_Laura shouts, her face blanching. Her eyes travel beyond him and up to the man holding the blow-dart tube. A tall man, with extensive tattoos up his arm, and his hair shaved onto the sides into a spectacular Mohawk.

He watches her with his green eyes.

"Hello, little sister," he says, in a very smooth voice.

"Daken." Laura suppresses a shudder.

"I hear you've been calling me 'cockroach number two'," he says. "And I don't like that."

"It was all in good-natured fun," she says grimly. "But in reality...to be fair...cockroaches are almost noble creatures compared to _you._"

She stiffens, her eyes widening. Reinforcements are joining Daken: enormous creatures, covered in a gleaming, silvery material. They snarl as one and bare enormous fangs.

Daken smiles slowly.

"Well...this isn't _good,_" Laura says finally.

**...**

"Ughnf!" She rolls slightly and hits the wall of the cell she has just been thrown into, then curls into a ball. Everything hurts, and her skin is still growing back after being thoroughly gnawed on by the hell hounds.

After a few moments, she sits up and takes stock. Julian's lying face-down in the other corner-very still-and she crawls over to him, full of new panic. She hadn't been able to make sure he wasn't hurt in the melee that ensued, but now she can.

She puts her hand on his shoulder, and he moves his head and mumbles something incoherent.

"What was that?" she asks.

"I sed...hate you." He raises his head slightly. "Life es...fannntassic' till you came..."

"Shut up." She closes her eyes, takes a shaky breath in relief. "I thought-I thought-"

"Noooope." His eyes are half-lidded and glassy. "Feels like...got hit by a bus. I hade bussssesss."

"Yeah." Laura strokes his shoulder. "I'm not sure how I'm going to get us out of here."

"Outttt? Whadd I..." he turns his head, sees the force field just beyond. "Fuckkkkk," he groans.

"Kind of." She pauses. "I haven't tried to bust us out yet...I think I need to take a few seconds to heal."

"Healll?" He slowly looks up, and squints. Then his eyebrows draw together. "_...Laurrrra..._"

"Just...don't panic. I'll be fine."

"You looook like...you got mauled by a bear."

She pauses. "Kind of."

Julian drops his head back down, and closes his eyes. "Thiss'a bad dream?"

"I wish." Laura leans _her_ head back against the wall. "But my nightmares aren't even this bad."

"Mmm." He doesn't say anything for a while. She thinks he's drifted off into a stupor, but then he looks up again, at her. "Don' worry...th' eeex-men will find us."

She feels a sudden lightening. _The X-men. _

Laura's never had a team to rely on, or people that cared enough to bust her out of a bad place-except for Logan. But she's not great at keeping him in the loop on things.

The kids, however-Julian and Cessily-they will be missed. A team will be sent to recover them, and Laura too, since she's present. _It could all be okay if they come in time, _she thinks, closing her eyes in relief. _Wish I still had Cessily's cell phone, _she thinks. Unfortunately, she's lost the pack in which she'd kept all her supplies for this mission, courtesy of a hell hound.

"Laurrra?"

She looks at him again, sees he's gazing at her. "Yeah?"

"You're preeetttty."

She snorts. "I'm missing big chunks of flesh and hair. Not a fair time to judge my appearance."

"I meannn it."

Laura flushes. "What the hell was _in_ that dart?"

"No." He pauses. "I always thinnngk it and I never sayyy it coz...I'm kinda stuuuuupid...and...well...I thingk now'sa good time to sayyy it, you know?"

"In case we're out of time."

"Nah...coz I'm thinggking about it." He grins at her, very lopsidedly.

"You're drooling," she comments.

"Coz you're...so...hottt."

She wrinkles her nose. "Okay." But she smiles.

He drags himself to his elbows, sways slightly. "Want you to...to know...I don't care 'bout...whatever you did. Before. I thought 'bout it...and it doesn't matter to me...not anymore."

"Okay. I think Sober Julian's going to have a different opinion about that," she says.

"Soberrr Julian's...an uptight fuck."

Laura grins now, fully. "Only sometimes."

He struggles to sit up, almost succeeds, then fails and falls onto his back. "Damn."

"Come here." She reaches around his torso and helps him to prop himself against the wall. "I'm almost good," she notes out loud. "I'll start trying to break us out in a minute."

"Mmmkay." Julian pauses. "Thinggk they'll give me more darts? This stuff iz...I like it."

"You're more fucked up inside than you first appear to be," Laura comments dryly.

"I should dringggk more."

"Okay."

"I thingggk sex sounds awesome but I'm kind of scared you'll thinggggk I suck."

"Okay." She tries not to laugh.

He leans closer, and in a stage whisper, confesses: "Also...I'm a lil worried...you'll thingggk...my dick's small."

Laura's mouth quivers. "What?"

"Coz you've seen so many."

"Right." She closes her eyes. "You _should_ drink more, you'd be the hit of the party."

Julian considers this. "You thingggk?"

"All you're missing is a microphone."

His eyes widen. "Hollly shit! That'sa _**GREAT **_idea...Laurrrra! You're...like...a _genius!_"

"Oh my god." She pauses. "Yes, I _am_ taking you drinking. I have to see this."

He suddenly leans his head against her neck. "I lovvve you," he mumbles. She stiffens, and her eyes widen, and she says nothing.

And just as suddenly, his head snaps up again. "I'm hungry!" he announces.

"Okay."

"I really want...potato salad. Like...I'd fuckin' kill someone...fer that."

Laura pauses. "You can have all the potato salad in the world if you kill Kimura next time you see her."

His eyes widen. "_**REALLY?!**_" he . "What kinds?"

She thinks. "Old fashioned...baked...German...hell, I don't know, how many kinds _are_ there?"

"That'sss fer Google." Julian pauses. "I'll lookit up...hang on." And produces a cell phone from a hidden pocket under his X-badge.

Laura's eyes widen. "You have a _cell phone?!" _

"Yup." Julian pauses. "iPhone 4S...with Siri..." he holds it up to his mouth. "Siri...I _love _you," he whispers.

"Give me that!" Laura snaps, just as Siri says "_Oh, I bet you say that to all your Apple products!" _

"Wait! I gotta...Google...potato salads."

"I'm going to make a very important phone call." She looks at the phone. "We're actually getting a signal in here. Holy fuck."

Julian scowls. "_Hurry!_ I'm...really fucking curious."

"This won't take long," Laura promises as she dials a familiar number.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: _Thanks for the awesome reviews! Sorry updates are far between...I am drowning in school work. I can't wait till I'm no longer on the crazy quarter system and back to a semester system...ugh. Glad everyone is enjoying this, I have to say I've really had fun writing this one...and I still am! So many plans! Also...if anyone's wondering my current favorite tunes...search "Sweet Brown- Ain't nobody got time for that (Autotune mix)" on youtube. It is literally the theme song of my life.. =D_**

* * *

**-12-**

* * *

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ring. _

_Click. _

"_How'd you get this number, Keller?!_" Logan demands in a furious snarl.

Laura closes her eyes, almost crying with relief. "Oh my god. We need help. We got captured by the facility, and Julian's tripping on some kind of dart they loaded him with, and Cessily's-"

"_Whoa, whoa, slow down. Half-pint? What happened?_"

"I'll explain later."

"_Okay. Do you have any idea where you are?_"

"We're in Manhattan, on West 94th street, near Columbus Avenue. Big steel-grey building...looks like an office. I've been conscious the whole time, so I can guarantee we're still here."

"_Good." _She hears him moving around on the other end. Walking.

"And Logan-don't come alone, for the love of god. They've got some creatures that look like hell hounds...put me down for the count. And-there's someone else. Someone-someone like me, but older and stronger."

_"Jesus." _

Laura bites her lip. She's never told him about Daken, for many reasons...mainly because she doesn't want Logan to hurt. She know he will. "Cessily's hurt really bad, too. They did something to her...she's just a puddle of metal...and they took part of her mercury and somehow coated the big dog things...like skin."

She hears him exhale through his nose. "_Okay. You safe right now?" _

"We're in a holding cell, somewhere toward the basement of the building. There's a force field and I don't think I can break it down, but I haven't tried yet. I had to see if Julian was okay first."

At this moment, Julian grabs the phone from her surprised fingers. _**"SIRI!" **_he yells into it, quite enthusiastically. "How many types of potato salad are there?!"

"Okay, give me the phone back," Laura coaxes.

A brief struggle ensues, and then she's gripping the phone once more.

"Hi again."

_"Yeah, he's trippin' pretty bad," _Logan says, sounding amused.

"You have no idea." Laura pauses, fends off another attempt to grab the phone. "_Not now, _Julian!" she hisses.

"But it's _my_ phone!" he protests.

"And I'm borrowing it."

He pauses, then slumps back against the wall in a sulky fashion. "Let you...coz you're...pretty."

_"Did he just say what I thought he said?" _Logan asks.

"Yeah." Laura smirks. "Anyway...I'm not sure what they have planned for us, but it can't be good...and it won't be long. I'm sure they've realized the X-men will want their kids back..."

_"We want _all _of you back, Laura." _

"That's a nice sentiment.

_"I mean it." _

Julian taps Laura's shoulder. "Laurrra?"

"Shhhh," she says.

"I thinggk I'm ready to have sex with you!" he announces. Very loudly.

She closes her eyes, hearing Logan's sharp intake of breath.

"_What. The. Fuck." _

"He's out of his mind right now. Please, just focus on getting us help."

_"Once we save you kids, I'm gonna kill him,_" Logan says. "_I'm going to fucking _kill _him_."

"That sounds a little counterproductive."

"_I don't care." _Logan pauses. "_I just found Cyke. See you in a bit, kid." _

"Later."

She presses _End, _and looks at Julian-who is staring at her hopefully.

"Are you _suicidal?_" she asks.

"No...I'm horny...and hungry..." his eyelashes lower. "Kind of sleepy, too."

"I like the last option best. You _should_ sleep."

"No!" he says, his eyes snapping open. "I wanna hang out."

"This isn't the best time for that."

"'S always a good time." He grins.

Laura is about to reply but she hears footsteps at the end of the hallway-multiple footsteps- and she tenses, sniffs the air. Nothing. The cell must be completely self-contained.

They come into view around the corner. Daken, a number of soldiers, two lackeys in stiff white lab coats...and one more man in similar garb, and glasses. And choppy blond hair. Horribly familiar. She has some memories.

Her eyes widen. "_Harkins?!" _she gasps.

"Hello, X-23." The man smiles pleasantly, affably. Unlike another scientist in her past-Zander Rice-Harkins has no problems concealing his malice. And that, perhaps, makes him even more dangerous. He won't make stupid mistakes, because he doesn't feel strongly enough about what he's doing to let emotion cloud his judgment.

She struggles to her feet and stands, her hands forming fists. "I killed you," she says.

Harkins shrugs. "I have good healthcare."

Laura's hands tremor, with fury. She hadn't known there were _three_ cockroaches left alive. All the evil he must have been doing in the meantime...all on her head. She feels like crying.

"Alright." Harkins pauses. "Might as well get this over with first. Then we can separate them."

"You're not coming _near_ us." _**SNIKT! **_as she pops her claws. All of them. "I will decapitate the next person to enter this cell."

"That'll be me, little sister," Daken says calmly.

Her eyebrows draw together, and she looks back at the corner. "Julian? Can you use your powers right now?"

He gazes up at her with glazed eyes.

"No," Harkins replies for him. "He has been injected with a inhibitor agent. He's so thoroughly powerless right now that we'll even have to wait for the procedure."

_"Procedure?" _Laura looks back at the scientist.

"I don't feel like boring you with the details, but we're going to make some improvements. Daken...shall we get started?"

"Yes," the man replies.

Laura feels her heart race. "No, no. You can't...please...he's not-you can hurt me but-"

Snickers amongst the group standing outside her cell.

Harkins smiles slightly. "We can do anything we please, X-23...and we will."

**...**

_**"LET GO OF ME!" **_Laura screams, kicking, but Daken's grip is like being held by steel bars. The needle slips under her skin anyway, and then-the men leave the cell-and she feels dizzy-and he lets her go.

"Have fun," he says, with a cold smile.

And also leaves.

Laura falls to her knees, confused. She watches the man walk through the barrier like it's not even there, and for him it isn't. It must be programmed to recognize his genetic code. She watches him leave, and then lowers her gaze to the floor.

_What did they do? _

"Laura?" Julian asks from the corner of the cell. His voice is a little clearer.

"Not now," she says. "I've got to think."

"No, _now_." He sounds urgent. "Knock me out."

She hears movement, and then he is beside her-and from the look in his eyes, and the scents he's releasing, and the way his vitals are going through the roof...she has a clue as to what they might have just injected them with. _They wouldn't, _she thinks. _That doesn't-they wouldn't want me bogged down like that-they'd get a surrogate, wouldn't they? _

_Wouldn't they?_

He places his hand on her back.

"Go in the corner," Laura says in a voice that is calmer than she feels. "And stay there."

"I can't."

She hesitates. "Are you sure?"

"Do it," he says. "I think it's going to get...kind of bad." He swallows, and she notes that he's gone pale.

A few moments and a _**BONK! **_later, he slumps backward, his face cleared of expression. She drags him to the corner, then moves over to the opposite end of the cell and draws her knees up to her chest. _Thank god for healing factors, _she thinks...but she can't dismiss the nagging feeling that drugs weren't the only thing in that injection they'd given her. Harkins is too sharp for that. He knows that giving orders to inject her with anything is a potential waste of personnel so whatever was in the syringe had to be more important than whatever horrible blend of drugs and aphrodisiac he'd given the boy lying conked out in the corner. But what could the mystery substance be?

She has no answer for this. She gazes across the cell at his unconscious form. _Procedure. _What kind of procedure? She imagines them cutting into his skin, and shudders and feels sick.

"Please...hurry up," she whispers, thinking of the X-men.

She is answered by a loud, thunderous _**CRASSSHHH! **_from upstairs.

**...**

"Oh my god," Laura says, clinging to Logan as he embraces her, about fifteen minutes later. They are surrounded by destruction and flurry as the other team members begin to attend to the wounded. Kitty Pryde has been injured by Daken, who has apparently fled the building, and Emma Frost suffered a bite from one of the hounds while in human form. Two of _those_ have escaped, as well.

Colossus is carrying the still-unconscious Julian out of the cell.

"It's okay now," Logan says soothingly. "You did good, kid. Now you gotta tell me what _happened._"

"I will." Laura draws away, shouldering her recovered bazooka. "Tell me you killed Harkins, though. Blond hair, glasses, lab coat."

"No killing today, kid." He pauses. "That's gonna be a little you-n-me thing later."

"Okay." She shudders. "Is Cessily-"

"We don't know yet. Got to get all of her together, first."

Laura turns her head, feeling like she is being watched. And she is-by Emma Frost, with hard, cold, clear eyes made of diamond.

_And again you've failed, _the look says.

She closes her eyes.

**...**

_**Thud thud thud!**_

Laura looks at the door. Julian. She debates for a moment on whether she should answer it, for a variety of reasons. Then she moves toward it and opens it a crack.

"Hi."

"Hey."

An awkward pause.

"You've been avoiding me again," he says.

She says nothing.

He reaches up, rubs his neck. "Cessily's going to be okay."

"I heard. I went and visited her."

"Good." Julian pauses. "So what the hell did I say to you that made you act like I have the plague? I mean-you were so eager to patch things up before that..."

She thinks of the sentiments he'd expressed in the cell, and then-later-the look in his eyes, after he'd been drugged, the thought that everything he stands for can be wiped away with a single hypodermic needle. And Cessily. And Frost's anger. And the knowledge that it was _righteous _anger, because if she hadn't been at the school, none of it would have happened. She had almost left the night after. Had gotten as far as the front door with a bag on her back, when Cessily-of all people-had stopped her. Given her a hug, and had babbled how grateful she was to Laura for coming to save her, and how sorry she was that she'd grown up in such a horrible place...but that she wants to be friends _always_, and she hopes the school can make her life at least a little better. "I _love_ you!" Cessily had whispered at the end, her voice thick with the tears streaming from her eyes. "In a none-gay way, of course. You're my _best_ friend, okay?"

The three fatal little words that tends to make Laura do things that are dangerous and stupid, like staying where she shouldn't. "Okay," she had sighed, and returned to her room.

Julian's still watching her, waiting for an answer. She lowers her gaze. "Nothing."

"Come on." He pauses. "You haven't talked to me in a week, again."

"I know." Laura's forehead wrinkles. "It's just-I can't explain. There's too much."

"Try me." He leans on the doorframe and peers in.

"I..."

"Is Sooraya here?"

She pauses. "No."

"Let me in."

She hesitates, then steps aside so he can pass. The door has barely closed behind him, and he's gathering her into his arms. "Laura, I...I'm sorry I judged you. I'm _so_ sorry."

"It's nothing."

He presses his chin against the top of her head. "No, it's something. I shouldn't have. You're not...you could never be...you're perfect just how you are...and if that's a part of you..."

"Not anymore." Laura looks up at him. "I'm trying new things."

"So am I." He pauses. "I want to hear...I want to know all about you. I want you to tell me how you got wound up in that place, with those people. But I want to take you to my room first and...well, you know."

"Sex me up?"

Julian thinks. "I wouldn't call it that. More like...I want to show you how I feel." He hesitates, looks uncertain. "I...I'm afraid of scaring you off. But I don't think I've ever cared about anyone else this much before."

Silence, for a few moments.

Then Laura smiles. "I bet you say that to all your Apple products," she says.

"Huh?" Julian sounds confused, his forehead wrinkling.

"Nothing." She pauses. "You're right. Let's go and do this while you're still feeling brave."

"Oh, shut up." He takes her hand, and they head out of the room.

**...**

About a half hour later, Julian is lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. "Wow."

"Told you." Laura nestles her head against his shoulder. "You were just denying yourself this whole time."

"Wow," he says again. He's out of breath.

She grins against his skin. "Let me know when you're up for it again, cowboy. I have more to show you...pretty sure you'll like it."

Pause.

"...wow," he says, yet again.

"Anytime." She draws a finger down his chest. "I like you. You have a great body."

She bites her lip. She wants to tell him how she feels, too, and it's ridiculous how nervous she feels. It's the thought that if she says it out loud, those three magic words, they make her vulnerable and stupid. It means he can be taken away from her, just like Sarah, and Debbie, and Megan, and...and she remembers the way he'd mumbled his feelings to her, in the cell, before whatever Harkins had done to him.

He's already taken that risk. She feels obligated to make the admission, too. Indebted. And Sensei Tanaka had taught her better than this. She must never hesitate, she must honor her debts, and she must never shirk her duties.

Her eyebrows draw together, and she closes her eyes. "I love you, too" she whispers.

Julian sits up. A few moments pass, and she opens her eyes again to look at him. A mixture of emotions battling for control of his features: shock, uncertainty, amazement...and perhaps, most of all, relief. "Too?" he asks, perhaps confused, since he doesn't remember much from his time in the cell.

She nods slightly, seriously, giving him a very stern look. "Don't tell anyone. Ever. I'm afraid...people will use you to hurt me."

"I won't." He pauses. "I thought...I wasn't sure...Laura..." his arms tighten around her, and he kisses her hair. "I'm happy," he whispers, his voice strained.

"So am I." She closes her eyes. "But I feel bad. I...I'm the reason they took us all."

"No you're not." He strokes her shoulder with his thumb. "That was an experimentation lab. Cessily was kidnapped because they wanted her for a test subject."

"They tracked me to find her."

He frowns. "I don't know your past, Laura. You said you'd tell me...and I hope you do. But don't ever blame yourself for the evil of others."

She shudders. "But I'm the product of evil. I'm not...I'm a clone, Julian."

He freezes, his eyes widening. "Huh?"

"I'm not Logan's daughter...I'm his clone."

A few moments pass. Then his eyebrows draw together. "But you're a girl. I...I _checked. _Wait-" he looks horrified, grabs the comforter, his knuckles turning white and his vital signs spiking up through the roof. "Oh my _GOD-_-you waited till _after-?!" _

Laura holds up her hand, unable to hold back a small grin. "Slow down. I _am _a girl. I should have made that clear first, I guess." She pauses, leans forward slightly. "I'm an _almost_ exact clone of Wolverine. Of his X-chromosome...the female gene. I promise you, I am all woman...and the parts are original."

"Oh." He pauses, swallows, and his fingers start to relax on the quilt. "So you're like girl-Wolverine?"

"Not quite. The woman who made me...changed some other things. The sample of blood that she used for the genetic information was damaged, and that's why I'm not an exact copy of Logan."

"Does Logan know this?"

"He knows everything about me."

Julian thinks back. "Right. When he started introducing you...you cut him off. Was he about to say 'clone'?"

"He was." She pauses. "Having a short, hairy old guy saying I'm his clone really didn't seem all that attractive...and, well, you know."

"Yeah, I know," he says. "I just almost had a heart attack about that very idea." He reaches up and wipes a few beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his bare arm. "Continue."

"My mother was the best geneticist ever. Well, maybe not as good as Mister Sinister...or okay, there are some better. But not many."

"She made you," Julian says seriously, genuinely. "She had to be good."

She smiles, then it fades. "I was intended to be a duplicate of the Weapon X project...of Wolverine, basically. To be the ultimate weapon. So from the age of two years on, I was trained by the best professionals in language, martial arts, weapons, espionage...everything you can think of."

"_Two _years old?" he interrupts.

"I matured quickly." She hesitates. "There were harsh punishments for failing to progress, as well. The woman you met...Kimura...she was my handler. She punished me when I didn't learn fast enough."

Silence, for a few moments.

"There was a _lot_ of punishment," she continues, trying to not be unnerved by his attentive gaze and lack of reaction. "And anti-empathy training, because they couldn't have a weapon with feelings. And then...when I was ten years old, I was a blank slate with all the required muscle-memories...so I was deemed ready."

"Ready for what?"

Laura squeezes her eyes shut, mentally prepares herself to drop what may be the biggest bombshell she's dropped on him yet. "Uploading." She pauses, draws in a breath. "My entire personality is fake. They took what they wanted...the best of the best in fields like business, sales, espionage...comedy...and designed who I am. And put it in my head, like a program."

Silence.

"And then...they started the missions," she continues, her voice wavering slightly now because if he wasn't repulsed before, this will certainly be the kicker, because it's against his basic philosophy. "I killed my first people when I was twelve, during a media event. Candidate Johnson, do you remember that?"

"_What?_" Julian sits up, stares at her. "That was _you?!_"

"Yes." She also sits up. "I've killed many other people, too. The facility sold my services, for millions of dollars. I killed anyone they ordered me to, because they gave me a personality, but no feelings. They had the anti-empathy training for that...and for anyone I might have trouble killing, there was a failsafe."

He gazes at her with the tired expression of a man that has just been told he's bankrupt, and is now being served with divorce papers. Laura pauses, wondering where this memory had come from, and then highlights it as one of her business tycoons' memories. She shakes her head slightly. _Focus._

"A scented synthetic oil, called Trigger scent," she says. "I was conditioned for years. They wanted me to react instinctively when I smelled it...and after they had tortured me enough, I did."

"Torture?" he asks.

"Yes." She pauses. "Water dunking. Boarding. Cutting. Finger-"

"Enough," he says, his voice firm.

She lowers her eyes again. "I will kill anyone around me if I smell it."

Silence.

_Might as well finish the story, _she thinks. "I escaped when I was fourteen, thanks to my mother...my creator...but there was a man involved in making me that hated her. Rice." Even after all these years, she can't help the loathing in her voice when she says his name. "He daubed her with trigger scent and I attacked her. She died quickly. And then I left her in the snow, because Kimura came."

He says nothing.

"I followed her instructions. I found my aunt and cousin, and for a while we were happy. I began to have a life, a real life...but the facility found me. They always find me, and they kill anyone I'm with. My family, my friends...you will die at some point, too. Kimura or Daken will kill you. Or I will be forced to." Her voice catches slightly. "Just thought you should know what you're getting into."

The silence continues. She clears her throat.

"After that...I was on my own. I had no idea of how to live...of how to deal with losing people when I didn't even understand that I loved them. So I did things to escape. Things that most people seem to find shocking." She pauses. "Maybe that's why I sold my body, for money. It was familiar...it was like being back at the facility."

A few minutes pass by. She hesitates. "Julian?"

He closes his eyes, tilts his head slightly. "I don't know what to say. I really don't. I knew it'd be bad...but...I don't know what to say." He sighs.

"I don't either," Laura offers, relieved that his response hasn't involved any shouting or her being expelled from the room. "Most people don't."

Julian opens his eyes and looks at her again. "How many people have you told?"

"Debbie and Megan, but they're dead," she replies. "Logan. My friend Kiden, but she's also dead. Cessily...and now you."

"Christ." He reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose, grits his teeth. "Why didn't the government shut the place down?"

"How are they still around today?" Laura counters, leaning forward. "The answer to any form of that question is _money. _They've bought the government. Harkins probably made deals with Senators to buy safety. He's got charisma, and plenty of money. With me and other projects they may have made...it's a billion-dollar industry."

His eyes looks slightly greener as he looks at her again. "I should've killed them," he says, his tone bitter.

"Yes." Laura pauses. "Harkins, Kimura and Daken are all still at large."

"We need to tell Cyclops," he says, and she feels slight relief at the thought that her story hasn't destroyed his innocence, his belief that killing is wrong. Because if he _really _believed he should have killed them, he wouldn't still be in the bed with her. His refusal to kill will be called into question some day, but she hopes it is far off. She senses that he will need to change to do it, and change takes time. Forging _her_ into a killing machine had taken time.

Forcing him too early could break him.

"He knows," Laura says. "They're working on it." She pauses. "Logan told me it'd be okay."

"Okay." He lays back down, tucks his arm under his head. "Come here."

She looks at him, uncertain. "Are you angry with me?"

Julian smiles grimly. "No."

"Okay." She slides back into place at his side. "I was so afraid to tell you. It's...not something very appealing."

Julian pauses, at a loss for words. "It did kill my boner," he admits finally.

She grins.

A few moments pass. His forehead wrinkles, in a troubled way. "You know what?" he asks, finally.

"What?" she asks, her voice soft.

He closes his eyes."I know you killed a bunch of people, and before I probably would have tried to call the police on you...but I've since been told by the police that I deserve to die, so I don't know what to think anymore. I haven't seen you hurting innocent people...so I'm not going to worry about it." He pauses and looks down at her, on his shoulder. "Just...stop killing people in front of me, okay?"

"I'll try."

"No, I _mean_ that, Laura," he says, a little more fiercely. "I am _never_ going to be okay with seeing you shoot people in the head."

"What if I'm shooting the person in the head because they're going to shoot _you_ in the head?" she counters.

Julian glares at her. "Not even then. I have my shields."

Laura arches her eyebrows. "And if they don't work?"

"Shoot them somewhere else," he says.

"But they deserve to die." She pauses. "And shooting them in the head is a quick death."

"No one deserves to die, Laura." He's still glaring at her. "_No body, _do you understand me?"

"Do you know how many people those men hurt and killed?" she demands. "There was _powdered bleach _in that shipment, Julian. _Bleach._ Do you know what that would do to someone who inhaled or injected it?"

He wavers slightly. "That would suck."

She gives him a flat look.

Julian closes his eyes. "Okay, okay, I get it...he was a terrible human being. But still. That's why there's the law."

"The law would have put him behind bars." Laura pauses. "I put him in the ground where he belongs. So he can never get out and hurt someone again."

"But that's against the law, too. We can't just make things up as we go, Laura. We _have_ to follow the law."

"So it's legal to go out in tights and battle the FBI because they're trying your classmate for murder?"

Julian pauses. "Where the hell did you find that out?"

"Little pitchers have big ears," Laura says, having overheard Kitty Pryde mention this briefly while discussing school politics with Emma Frost at a lunch shortly before the Facility abduction. "That's not the point," she says dismissively. "The point is you're being a hypocrite."

He sits up again and glares at her. "You're not being fair. My friend was being persecuted for being a mutant. He didn't 'murder' anyone. It was an accident."

"Oh, but that's different from...oh, say...getting into a fight and accidentally punching someone in the wrong spot? People get second degree for _that_."

"Stop twisting my words around!" he snaps.

"Stop lying to yourself," she counters.

His eyes narrow. "Get out of my room."

Laura feels unnerved. "You can't be serious."

"You're making me mad and I don't want to be around you right now," he says, with effort. She suspects the effort is spent on his excluding insults and curse words from his explanation.

Laura closes her eyes, and wills herself to word her response carefully. "Look, I think we should just agree to disagree on this, okay? We _just_ made up over our last fight...and I don't want every visit I make to your room to end up with me flying through the door."

"Well, quit pissing me off then!" Julian snaps, scowling. Despite this, she can see that he's considering her suggestion. After a moment he flops down on the bed and turns away from her. "Whatever," he mumbles under his breath. "Fuck you."

She doesn't reply, and they both fall silent. This lasts for almost half an hour. She is just starting to drift off into an uneasy sleep, alarmed at their argument but lulled by the heat of his body, when he rolls over and wraps his arms around her, his body tense. "I'm sorry," he mumbles, like he's forcing himself to admit it.

Laura thinks of the times she's seen him arguing with the other students. He's got a very strong sense of pride and a big ego. He's very self-assured. He's stubborn. She therefore realizes how difficult it must be for him to squeeze out these two words. _Like trying to get blood out of a stone, _she thinks, and feels touched at his effort, even if he doesn't really mean it."I'm sorry, too," she replies, even though she's not really sorry. For once she has done the right thing. He relaxes.

"Okay." He buries his face in her hair, and then they drift off to sleep, both feeling much better.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Send all thank-yous for this chapter to rokusan23, since I am updating this so she won't 'cry at night' anymore :o)**

**Also, apologizes. There are a lot of hyphens in this documents. Except they were dashes when they were in my word program, and 's editor refuses to do dashes, even when I go through and try to correct them. I don't want to put anything else there instead...a dash is what I intended. I'd have to change the entire structure of my sentences, and I don't want to do that because this is what the chapter is supposed to be. So if you see a hyphen, it's a dash. Just use your imagination.**

* * *

**-13-**

* * *

"Whoa, guess I found you," Laura comments, as she rounds the corner and sees the huge group of kids standing in the lobby of the school. They are all looking up at the stairs. "What am I missing out on? Is there a party?"

"Ms. Marvel and Iron Man just knocked on the door," Julian says, looking troubled.

"_A__wesome! _I haven't seen Tony in _forever. _Oh...shit." Laura covers her mouth. "I'm not supposed to say his secret name, right? Well, Tony is...Ms. Marvel." She bites her lip.

Everyone is now staring at _her_ instead, and she flushes.

"Laura...Ironman is supporting the Superhuman Registration act," Julian says gently. "We all know who he is."

"Oh." She closes her eyes, immensely relieved. "I thought I just blew his cover."

"Whatever." He frowns. "Them being here isn't _good, _you know."

"Why not? Tony's awesome. He makes one hell of a drinking buddy."

_"What?" _Santo asks.

"We need to know what they're saying, Laura," Cessily says. "Can you help us?"

"Normally we'd ask Sofia, but..." Nori points out.

Laura automatically scowls. "What, _she _had enhanced hearing too?"

"No, she did some kind of wind thing to bring the words to her," Julian says, frowning.

"What a dead _giveaway_!" she says scornfully. "I can tell you when someone's about to _fart _without having to change anything around me."

"Dude, that is so cool!" Santo says. "Do you call people out on it?"

"Only if I hate them," she replies.

"Laura...we could really use your help _right now,_" Julian reminds her.

"Well, where are they?"

"Upstairs...probably in the Headmaster's office."

"Let's get our thumbs out of our asses, then." She marches up the stairs, and is followed by about half of the school's remaining student body. A few minutes later she plops down just around the corner from the office, and draws her knees up to her chest.

And starts narrating.

"Local police called in the Avengers...Carol and Tony responded." Laura closes her eyes. "God _damn_ it. Is Carol public yet? I am the worst secret-keeper in the history of ever."

"Continue," Julian urges.

"They entered the church...there was strange technology...bodies galore..." she pauses. "Summers just passed a silent but deadly."

"Are you serious?!" Santo asks gleefully.

"I am." Laura pauses again. "Something left an energy trail, but it disappeared to the southwest. When they looked at the third body...oh my _god_."

"What?" Julian asks sharply.

"One of you guys _died _again!" She bursts. "God _damn _you people!"

"What..." Cessily looks around in horror. "Who's missing?!"

"About half the school." Julian arches his eyebrows. "Laura, who is it?"

"Jay Guthrie." She pauses, looks at Sooraya, who is backing away. Her roommate, who she happens to know cares deeply for the boy. "Oh, fuck," she whispers. "I'm just full of fail. "

"Indeed."

Everyone looks up-to see Emma Frost towering above them, a disapproving glare on her pristine features as she gazes down at the girl. "Children, disperse. We will talk later." She walks towards the headmaster's office, opens the door and slips in.

Stunned silence.

Laura buries her face in her arms.

"What?" Cessily looks confused. "What the hell did she mean, Laura? Oh my god...were you _serious?!" _

"What are you talking about?" Julian asks.

"She said Frost brought her here to protect us," the other girl replies. "I think she's been _blaming_ Laura for all the bad things that are happening."

"What the-" Julian's expression darkens, and he looks at the way Frost has gone. "I've got to talk with her."

"Hey, guys...Sooraya ran away," Santo says, sounding unsure. "What d'we do?"

"I don't know." Julian pauses. "Laura, I'll talk with Frost."

"No..." she says from the floor, in a small voice, her head still buried in her arms. "She's right. I suck at protecting things...all I'm good for is _destroying _them..."

"That's bull shit!" He knees beside her. "Look...we'll figure this all out later, okay? Sooraya needs us right now...and we need to know why this happened."

"Okay," she whispers. He kisses her forehead, then gets up and heads down the hallway, after his friend, as does the rest of the group.

Laura sits in place for about an hour, thinking.

And then she gets up, a look of determination on her face.

**...**

"I feel so bad for Sooraya," Cessily whispers. "And for his family...oh my god, poor Mrs. Guthrie..."

Julian nods. "I wish I knew what to do. I feel so...powerless."

They are sitting on the edge of the roof, gazing off across the property. Cessily has her knees drawn up against her chin, and Julian is leaning back on his hands, gazing at the darkening sky. Both are wearing tragic expressions, their mouths turned down into deep frowns, and Cessily's metal cheeks are wet with tears of mercury.

"I feel bad for the times I was a dick to him," he says. "I-I always really thought Jay was one of the better guys here, you know?"

"It was all a game back then." Cessily pauses. "We were the popular kids in high school. I was still riding on the fumes of being head cheerleader back home. But now...none of that matters anymore."

"Doesn't seem to." Julian closes his eyes. "I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. I woke up one day and it all just went to hell...I mean...Brian...and then Sofia...I feel like it's all a bad dream."

"I can't believe they're gone, either." She lowers her eyelashes. "And Kevin."

"What?" Julian asks, startled. "He-he's okay, isn't he?"

"Not after Laurie." Cessily looks up at the sky. "He just disappeared one day. After I came back...after the Facility hurt me. He used all the commotion as a chance to slip away."

"Have you checked with Frost?!" Julian sits up. "Christ, I _suck_ at taking care of you guys! I shouldn't even be leader." He pauses. "Wait, _am_ I leader still?"

"I don't know." She hugs her knees tighter. "He didn't _want_ to stay, Julian. I meant nothing to him. He didn't even care that I was nearly killed."

He puts his arm around her shoulders. "Cess...there's other fish in the sea."

"No one else is going to want a metal girl friend." She lets out a dry sob. "I wanted to be with him so bad...I thought...we were meant to be together...you know?"

"Yeah." He pauses. "I thought me and Sofia would be forever...but, hey. Things change. You meet new people...you move on..."

"So, you and Laura, huh?" she asks abruptly.

Julian blinks. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, _yeah. _Duh." Cessily pauses. "She told me...about her past."

"Me too," he says. "Unbelievable."

She nods. "I thought she was crazy. And then they kidnapped me...and I was there for only a day...Julian, I didn't know it was possible to feel that much pain. I actually wanted to die, at a few points...I thought I _did_ die..." she grits her teeth. "I think she's the strongest person I know if that's where she _lived. _I would've given up."

"Me too," Julian says again, looking up at the darkening sky. "Yeah, she's certainly something. And it's weird how-even though she seems half-baked most of the time-she's the sanest one of us when it comes to dealing with all of this."

"Yeah." Cessily sighs. "Maybe I should ask _her_ for advice on Kevin."

"She'd tell you to do something crazy, for sure."

"Like?" she looks curious.

"Oh, I dunno. You heard her today, talking about the Avengers like they were her personal click of friends. Tony Stark her _drinking buddy, _my ass."

Cessily grins. "Did you hear how defensive she got when we were talking about Sofia's powers?"

"Yeah." He pauses, gets a dreamy look. "Man, imagine those two having a _fight._ That would-oh, wow. I want to see it."

She rolls her eyes. "Julian...one girl at a time."

"Yeah, yeah." He frowns. "Huh...speaking of Laura...where'd she go?"

"I haven't seen her in a bit," Cessily says, raising her eyebrows.

"She's usually somewhere near me. Kind of like a cat...always rubbing against your ankles but when you try to pick it up it claws your face off."

The pair trade grins.

"We should probably go in and look for her," he says, in a more serious tone. "I didn't like what Frost said to her...or how she took it. I'm worried she meant what she said."

"I hope not."

"Well-only one way to find out-" Julian begins.

At that moment, the ground starts to rumble, and he breaks off, raising his eyebrow. Both of their eyes swivel to the basketball court, the gravel of which is falling away and parting. Out of the large rectangular hole that has been revealed a sleek black jet rises into the air.

"Think something's up?" Cessily asks.

"Nah, probably just Mr. Logan going on a beer run."

They both smirk and watch the jet out of sight, then head back inside the school.

**...**

Inside the jet, Laura reaches up and flicks down a lever, her expression one of intense concentration. With the other hand she is holding a steering yoke, gently correcting the play as the jet shakes, picking up speed. She tilts this upward, and the jet angles up into the clouds.

_Local police called me and Tony in to a building on Madison and Rutgers on the Lower East Side of New York, _Carol had said, her tone grim. _A church. And this church was full of strange technology...and bodies, lots of bodies. Eleven, to be precise. _

_One of them was a student in your school. Jay Guthrie. _

_On the large television screens, a movie clip was playing over and over. Each of your students being killed, in horrible ways. Gunfire. Arrows. Explosions. Torture._

Tony found an energy trail. It dragged itself across the floor inside, but flew once it was outside. It headed Southwest, then disappeared.

_On the ground, near Jay Guthrie's body, were words, written in his own blood. Nimr._

Laura's eyes scan the horizon. _Whatever a Nimr is...it's out there. And there's one man who can tell me about 'strange technology'...if anyone will know..._

**...**

"Okay. Where the _hell_ is Laura?" Julian asks, finally, in frustration.

Cessily is standing in front of him again, having searched the right wing of the school top-to-bottom while he searched the left-to no avail. They have met in the middle. She shrugs helplessly. "We weren't attacked...it couldn't have been the facility again, could it?"

He feels a thrill of fear. _Get a grip, _he reminds himself. _Think logically. _"No, it's too soon. They still need to regroup. We totaled their base and separated them. No..." he pauses. "The jet, Cessily. What if Laura was in it?"

"What do you mean? Someone took her away?"

"No." He pauses, his forehead wrinkling. "More like she feels responsible...so she's going to do something about it herself. Oh my god. Yeah, that's what she's doing, I just _know _it."

"Oh god," Cessily agrees. "We have to get Mr. Summers-"

"We don't have time, Cess!" He says, panicking now. "Cyclops and a bunch of the X-men aren't even here-they're at Storm's wedding, remember? Every second we talk, she's moving farther away...we need to get everyone together."

"Okay. I'll raise the alert." Cessily begins to snake across the floor, much quicker than if she had walked or run in human form.

Julian runs up to his room to get his gear, trying not to think of what could come of this.

**...**

"Laura is missing, guys," he says, a few minutes later. He's standing in the lobby, his arms folded against his chest, his manner agitated. "We're going after her."

"Why should we care about X?" Nori demands. "She doesn't care about _us!"_

"She so does!" Cessily snaps. "I've seen it firsthand."

"So have I." Julian scowls at the blue-haired girl. "For your information...the reason she isn't _here_ is that she felt so guilty about Jay that she had to _do_ something. She's the best of all of us...and we're not letting her go alone."

"You're just hoping to get into her pants." Nori looks at David. "Come on. I don't want to support this."

"We're a team, guys!" Cessily says. "Come _on!_"

"I'm with ya," Santo says, sounding worried. "I like X. She's funny and never tells me to stop staring at her boobs."

Julian's fist curls into a ball, but he lets it slide because Santo is one of his best friends.

"I will be there!" Sooraya says, fiercely. "In Jay's memory."

"Good. Looks like the _Hellions _are pretty well represented," Julian says, gritting his teeth. "Where are the New Mutants, huh? I was right. You guys are pathetic. You won't even help us avenge your own friend."

"I will," David says quietly.

"David!" Nori says, sounding shocked. "You don't even-"

"I have to do something."

"Good man." Julian looks at the others. "Come _on,_ guys. What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Well-I'm-" Victor says.

"He's coming!" Santo volunteers. "If I have to drag him."

_"Hey!" _the green boy shouts, looking outraged. "You can't just-"

"Pixie? Loa? _Anyone?_" Julian asks.

Silence.

"Alright, guys. Let's go."

"How are we going after her?" Cessily asks. "Are you going to fly us, Julian?"

"We'll never catch her that way," David says. "We need an X-wing. And even in that we won't...but if we have an idea of where she's going-"

**...**

_**San Diego, California.**_

Laura jumps down the ramp and lands on the pavement, her expression still serious. She walks a few steps, sniffs the air, examines the sky above her, then moves on. She moves with purpose, as if she knows exactly where she will go and when she will get there. Around her shoulders is strapped very tightly the bazooka that Kingpin had given to her as a gift, before the facility.

She continues walking, for about five minutes. Her journey ends at an enormous sky scraper, paneled in reflective glass windows. Pausing for a moment, she re-examines her surroundings, then tries the door. _Locked. _But easy enough to slip in-she makes a fist and-_sllkkkt-_the point of one claw emerges from between the knuckles of her index and middle fingers. She works the tip in between the space of the door, and a moment later it opens and she slips into the building.

Almost instantly, she is aware of the struggle happening elsewhere in the building. Laura runs-into the open elevator-and slams her palm on the down arrow repeatedly, until the doors close and she feels the car start descending.

When the doors finally open again, she is confronted with a scene of carnage. Smoking remains of robots strew the metal corridor, and the lights are flickering. There are strange sounds of electrical fluctuations. Eyes widening, she begins to run. It's not hard to see where this is leading...to the laboratory.

She reaches the door, almost skids past it, grabs on to the edge and peers in.

The enormous room is awash in a fierce pink glow, at the center of which floats an enormous pink figure. A robot. This one is at least five times the size of the twisted remains of the hallway.

"Laura."

She hears-barely hears-her name mouthed, and she looks to the side. There, under the counter-a man is crouched, a screwdriver held to a small, round, metal device.

Her mouth opens, and her eyebrows draw together. Then she crouches down and slinks to join him in the small space.

"What the _hell_ is going on here, Jon?" she mouths.

The man doesn't look up from his work. "That's Nimrod," he mouths back.

"Nimrod?" Laura peaks up over the counter for a split second. "It's _pink. _You don't mean to say that it's _dangerous._"

"It could kill the both of us without a second thought."

"Not if I kill it first." Laura pauses. "Can robots die?"

"No...but they can be reprogrammed," he mouths. "I'm trying something...but I'm sending for help right now. How did you know to come?"

"How do I ever know anything?" Laura peaks over the counter again.

"Stop it," the man hisses.

"But...it's so _pink,_" she mouths in reply. "It's, like, an automatic girl response. I _want_ it."

"Be quiet. I've just about got this...there."

Nothing happens.

"Nothing happened," Laura observes.

"Not on this end. On _that _end they got a recording of the last two minutes of the situation." He looks up. "I'm glad you're here. And call me Forge."

"You_ know_ I can't remember codenames," Laura says. "It's the one thing I suck at."

"Everyone has a weakness," Forge says heavily.

**...**

_**The School:**_

_**"WHOA!" **_Nori shouts, scrambling up from the stairs. She has been sitting for the last five minutes-after everyone had left-wondering if David's going to be okay. But now her gauntlets have begun to light up and hum...and an image is being projected into the air. She stares at the big pink thing, watches at it swings its arm-at a familiar figure. _Forge, _the creator of her gauntlets.

She inhales sharply through her nose.

About thirty seconds of struggling pass...and then Forge disappears from view. The pink thing remains...and in the background, she sees someone else familiar.

"Oh shit. Oh _shit._" She becomes a blur as she runs for the elevators.

**...**

"Oh yeah?" Laura asks.

"Oh yeah." Forge crawls forward, then gets to his feet. "I hope this works. Otherwise we're in major danger."

"How major?"

"Death, for us both."

"Wow." Laura pauses. "Didn't realize you were _serious. _I don't like it so much anymore."

"It's a Sentinel."

"It looks like a glorified Conair hairdryer."

Forge raises his eyebrows. "It's definitely a Sentinel. It came to me for repair...someone hacked it up pretty good. And it convinced me with some pretty serious threats. Oddly enough, it happened to coincide with another project I was working on."

He nods to a figure that Laura hadn't noticed before: a _blue_ robot, hanging in suspended animation near the pink robot. They are connected with wires-which are pulsing pink, and are the source of the weird throbbing noise of electricity.

"You're transferring it to a new body?"

"Yes." Forge pauses, grins. "And overriding the programming, but shh, don't tell it that."

"I see." She looks toward the pink robot. "I think that thing killed one of the people I was supposed to be protecting, at the school."

His grin fades. "No."

"Yep." Laura reaches up, pushes hair out of her face. "Well, I'm not sure what to do now. I came here planning to kick ass and chew bubblegum but it looks like you did that first. Do you have any bubblegum? 'Coz I'm out and this is kind of boring."

"Shh." Forge shakes his head. "Stick around for a few minutes. We have to make sure it takes."

"Okay," Laura mouths back. "I wonder if anyone's even noticed that I've gone."

**...**

_**"WHAT?!" **_Julian explodes.

"Calm down!" Cessily shouts. "David's just trying to warn us. I'm sure Laura is-"

He glares at his friend. "I don't care. We're _going, _period."

"But he just said-" Victor begins.

"It's true." David adjusts his glasses. "No one's ever defeated Nimrod."

Nori is standing beside him, the image projecting from her gloves looping over and over. Julian's eyes shift to the hologram again, and settle on the somewhat blurry, tiny figure of Laura peering into the doorway, then dropping into a crouch and disappearing.

"I don't care," he says, his teeth gritted. "If no one wants to come...I'll go by my fucking self. That's _Laura, _and she's one of us."

"Come on. Everyone on the jet," Cessily says.

"But-" Victor says.

Santo picks him up by the scruff of the neck and hurls him into the jet. "Shut up, Borkowski!" he calls after him. There is a muffled _thump _and an "ow!" as Victor hits the interior wall.

"I _love_ you Santo," Cessily says. "I don't say that enough, I know."

"Cool." The big rock boy enters the jet, and after a glance at each other, everyone follows, even Nori. Julian is the last one on board, and he pulls the boarding door shut after him with a loud and final sounding _**BANG!**_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:**Thanks as always for the great reviews, hope you continue to enjoy this! :o)

* * *

**-14-  
**

* * *

**"TRANSFER COMPLETE," **the pink figure in the middle of the room announces very suddenly. And its pink eyes turn off...but the blue robot's eyes turn on. **"REBOOTING. REBOOTING SEQUENCE STARTING. SEQUENCE 1111100010101010101011...LOADING WINDOWS X." **

"We should be able to speak normally now," Forge says.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Laura blurts. "That thing is _Microsoft?_"

Forge shrugs. "What won't they do for money?"

"I'm going to pay Gates a visit," she says, wrinkling her nose. "Well, at least it's not Apple, right?"

"If it was an Apple product I'd have no chance of pulling this off." Forge moves to a table with a built-in keyboard and starts tapping in commands. "I want to see if I can access its mainframe...maybe a few registry edits."

"Okay." Laura leans against the counter. "I wonder if it comes in different colors."

"There's only one Nimrod."

"Is it like the Terminator? Because I could really use my own private killer robot." Laura pauses. "Seriously, could you program it to make a hit for me? I'll pay you."

"No." Forge concentrates on his screen.

"Damn." She studies the blue robot. "So what orders are you giving this one?"

"Protect the kids at the school. That should keep it from killing them...a direct counter objective."

"I could sure use the help," Laura says, with relief. "Every time I turn around another one of them is dead. They're just so..._squishy._ Literally…brains _everywhere._"

"You always did have a way with words."

"I have forty-six ways with words. It's always a crapshoot as to how they're going to come out." Laura gazes at the blue glowing eyes-and watches as they turn pink. "Hey, cool...are you doing that?"

"Huh?" Forge looks up. He pales. "Oh my god."

"Is that _bad?_" Laura asks. "It looks really pretty. Ooooh look, the whole thing is changing color! That is a classy robot."

_**"INITIATE FORGE PROTOCOLS. PASSWORD: ORORO! OVERRIDE FOREIGN PROGRAMMING!" **_Forge shouts desperately.

_**"ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERR-" **_the robot pauses, then the lights turn pink again. **"PROTOCOL 1: PROTECT MUTANTS." **

Forge leans against the counter, weak with relief.

"God, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson with Vista," Laura says. "I wouldn't load a Sentinel with _Windows._"

"They didn't exactly consult me, Laura."

"Obviously." She moves over to it, hesitates. "It won't kill me now, right?"

"Right." He reaches up and wipes his forehead on the back of his arm.

"Cool," Laura says, examining the robot, then looking at Forge again. "Are we all done here then?"

"I guess so," he replies. "I think I'll power it down, just to be safe. Maybe destroy the circuit board...get rid of Nimrod entirely."

"Good plan." Laura nods to him. "Alright, it was nice seeing you-"

_**KAAAA-BOOOOOOM!**_

The ground shakes with the force of a large explosion. Laura looks around, bewildered. Forge's lab is sound-proofed, so she is as clueless as he is about what the source of the sound could be.

"It looks like your friends," Forge says, looking at his security screen. "There was a big green glow...and then they crash-landed their jet in my parking lot."

Laura stares at him. "Tell me you're joking," she says in a flat voice.

"Sorry, but I'm not," Forge says, his voice equally weary.

She closes her eyes. "I have to go because the children are trying to kill themselves again. I'll see you around."

"Take care of yourself, Laura."

She leaves the lab quickly.

**...**

Julian finally recovers enough from the impact to pry the crumpled ramp open with his mind. It explodes outward and he hauls himself out-to come face to face with a very unimpressed looking Laura. She is standing with folded arms, sucking her tongue in a critical fashion.

"Who was flying this here jet?" she asks, her eyebrows arching.

Julian coughs. "Alleyne!" he replies, a little too quickly. Laura's eyes narrow. A moment passes, then he lowers his eyes. "And myself," he admits.

"You are never touching another aircraft. _Ever._" She looks past him, into the jet. "Everyone alive in there? Because if you killed yourselves, I don't count that as my fault."

"None of this is your fault, Laura!" Julian exclaims in a frustrated tone. "I don't know why you would ever believe Ms. Frost."

"I have my reasons."

"Are you okay?" he asks. "I saw the message Forge sent - I saw you behind Nimrod -"

"Yeah, it was just getting a tune-up. Pretty anticlimactic, really." She pauses. "Did you know that thing is running on _Windows?!" _

"Really?" David asks, emerging from the jet. "That explains some things."

"No kidding." Laura pauses. "So I guess you guys will be wanting a ride back, then."

"Well, is everything okay here?" Julian asks. He looks up at the tall building which houses Forge's enterprises.

"Yeah, everything's peachy keen -" she replies.

_**KAAAA-BOOOOOMMMM!**_

Laura - and everyone else - spin around to gaze at the source of the explosion. The doors of Forge's building are now blown open and smoking.

"I may have spoken too soon," she says, annoyed.

"Let's make sure everything's okay," Julian says. "Come on, guys."

**...**

They re-enter the building, which is as dark as before-but now filled with an alarming acrid scent. The electric hum is present again-and has intensified-to an almost overbearing noise. Every so often there is a slight sparking in the air, suspiciously pink in color. The hairs on the back of Laura's neck rise.

She feels Julian's fingers brush hers, searching for a hold. She accepts them, and he grips her hand tightly. "This place is really creepy," he says.

"I don't think we should go further," Cessily says, clutching her arms. "It feels all _wrong..._Laura?"

She's stopped, and is looking toward the ceiling.

"Trouble is on its way, it seems."

Sooraya nods slightly.

The elevator opens suddenly, and Forge stumbles out. He's covered in blood and injuries, and is waving his hands in the air erratically. _**"GET OUT!" **_he manages.

"Who -" Julian begins.

"Forge!" Nori exclaims, catching him by his elbows. "What happened?!"

_**"NIMROD!" **_Forge says. "Every...every...everywhere...can't stop...need go..."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Cessily says at first.

Laura holds up a hand. "I think I've got it. He was tinkering with Nimrod's operating system...wrote it to a new drive...overrode the protocols."

"And?" Julian asks.

"Well, he said it's everywhere," she says. "So that must mean Nimrod downloaded itself into the whole _building_."

_**"YES!" **_Forge pushes Nori aside, grabs at Laura's hand. "Go! We have to go! Too late will -"

_**SLAM!**_

Everyone looks at the doors they have just entered through-to find a metal wall has slid down. Followed by another...and another...and another. And then a forcefield.

_**"Mutants detected," **_a cool woman's voice announces, over the lobby speakers. _**"Initiating elimination procedures. Please stand by." **_

"What the fuck?" Julian looks around. Hold music has begun to play.

"Is that Phil Collins?" Laura asks, her nose wrinkled.

Everyone listens for a few moments.

_"...see your true colors, and that's why I love you, so don't be afraid to let them shoooow..."_

"True Colors," Cessily confirms.

"Oh my god...I am _not_ dying to Phil Collins!" Nori snaps.

"Neither am I," Laura says.

"Could be worse," Cessily points out. "Could be that Bieber kid."

"Don't give it ideas!" Victor shouts. "I _knew _we shouldn't have come."

"Shut the hell up, Borkowski!" Santo snaps.

"Who or what is a 'Bieber'?" Sooraya asks, sounding weary.

"Okay, guys, this is a serious situation and I think we need to focus here," David says.

"Right," Julian says, sounding tired. "Shut up, kids…and think. How are we going to take down an entire building?"

"Tech...tech...tech too, lots of tech, very bad," Forge says. "Lots bad."

"He has a concussion," Laura announces. "We need to get him horizontal somehow, soon...he could get a lot worse if we don't."

"I think everything's about to get a whole lot worse," Cessily says in a small voice. She's looking at the three other elevators ahead of them-or more specifically, at the down arrows. They've lit up, indicating the cars are coming down.

"Oh boy." Julian swallows. "I don't want those doors to open."

"Then don't let them," Laura says. "Need I remind you all that _you can do things too?_ Quickly, we need to cut the cables on the cars-there's a few basement levels on this building."

"Okay. Laura - if I get you in the shaft, can you do that?" he asks.

"Yes. But I can't do it quickly enough myself. Sooraya and Santo can help slow the cars down."

"Let's go."

They run toward the doors, but before they can bring their plans to fruition, the doors open to reveal...nothing.

"The hell?" Julian asks, leaning in.

_**"KELLER!" **_Nori screams from behind.

He turns, and sees the beams of pink light that are descending from the ceiling...and turning into robots. Within a split second, there are almost a hundred human-sized machines, all glowing a fierce pink color.

The hold music ends.

_**"Initiating Nimrod collective," **_the woman's voice says. _**"Targets locked. Commencing in 3, 2, 1..." **_

_**"AAAGH!" **_Cessily screeches as she is hit by a pink arc of electricity. She writhes and falls to the floor, jerking and...shrinking.

"She's evaporating!" Nori shouts. "We need to cool her off somehow!" She lets a charge go, and it arcs from one robot to another in a chain reaction.

"You could," Laura suggests, to Julian.

"How?!" he exclaims. "I'm a _telekinetic_...not iceman."

"Strip the excess energy off of her -like when you helped me clean up, remember?"

"I'll try." He runs over to Cessily and drops to his knees beside her, his eyes glowing. Laura dodges an attack herself, then watches as he sends waves of energy over the puddle of metal that is his friend. It stops shrinking, and a few moments later she reforms. "Oh my god!" she gasps. "I thought - "

"No time, Cess." He helps her to her feet. "We're in _big_ trouble here."

"Probably won't survive," Laura says.

"Don't say that!" Nori shouts. "Do something to _help!" _

"Okay." _**SNIKT! **_as she pops her claws. "I'm going to be working on the right hand side of this room. Anyone who comes there is likely going to get something cut off."

"Noted!" Julian says, propelling robots away with a big wave of mental energy.

Laura takes one last look at him, hopes he will survive the melee, then charges in. Time seems to lose all meaning as she fights, sometimes emerging on top of a mass of robots, sometimes running up walls to flip over them, and even running _on_ walls when she corners. She moves so quickly that the robots are hard-pressed to catch her, but she suspects that if they did, it could be bad. A beam catches a lock of her hair on one landing, and it fries-and doesn't instantly grow back as it usually does. She is also alarmed by the fact that the number of her opponents doesn't seem to be decreasing whatsoever.

After what seems like days - but is in reality thirty minutes - she fights her way back to the center of combat. A green flash passes her, and she runs towards the source, withdraws her claws and catches his wrist. "You're okay?" she asks.

Julian automatically raises a shield around them, and gives her an extremely weary look. His face is covered in soot marks and sports several superficial cuts and burns. The rest of him seems to follow the same pattern, except for a slightly larger wound on his bicep. His uniform is beat up and dirty...and bloodstained. _Not his blood, _she thinks with relief.

"For now...but I'm running out of steam," he says. "We're not even making a _dent_ in their numbers."

"I know. This isn't right." Laura pauses. "We need to find out where they're coming from. Either up or down...I'm thinking up because I didn't see this kind of tech in the lab...unless it's doing something crazy like - "

"_Building_ them," Julian says. "That's got to be it. Yeah, we need to check that out." He pauses, leans down and kisses her. A pink explosion bounces off his shield, but for a moment neither of them cares. Then they part, and he reaches out and crushes the attacker with a thought.

"We should tell Nori that we're going," he says. "I saw her over in that corner last." He nods towards the door area.

"Okay."

A few moments later they come across Cessily. "We're heading upstairs!" Julian yells.

_**"WHAT?!" **_she shouts. _**"CAN'T HEAR YOU, I-"**_

He expands the bubble to include the girl. "Oh, that works!" she exclaims.

"We're going upstairs," Laura says, studying the other girl with half-lidded eyes full of weariness. Cessily looks just as tired, but there are no wounds on her metal body, just damage to her uniform-and somehow she still seems enthusiastic. "To find out where these pieces of shit are coming from."

"Yeah, I was starting to wonder!" the other girl agrees.

"I think we should all go, Julian - we need to stick together right now." Laura casts a look around. "I haven't seen Anole for a while...or Santo...or David. Have you?"

"I saw David like two minutes ago," Cessily replies. "He's got Forge. They're ok."

"Good." Julian pauses. "Santo should be easy to spot. Come on."

They manage to round up their companions, but it turns out that Victor has suffered a serious arm injury, and he is the source of the blood on everyone's uniforms. Surprisingly he does not seem to be going into shock.

"How do we go up?" Cessily asks. "I don't want to get in the elevator, all things considered."

"That's probably our only option," Laura says. "I'll bet you anything that Nimrod thought of the fire escapes already."

_**"EVERYONE IN THE ELEVATORS!" **_Julian yells.

A few moments later they are crowded into one car, Sooraya sweeping in last. Julian forces the door closed against the robotic fingers reaching in after them, and finally succeeds with a loud sound of crunching metal. He presses the up button, then leans back against the elevator wall, rubbing his arm.

Silence.

_**PRRRRFFFFTTTT. **_

All eyes turn toward the big rock boy.

_**"SANTO!" **_Cessily snaps.

"_WHAT?!" _he replies. "I was just in attack of the clones! My stomach's not happy, okay?"

"You don't _have _a stomach," Julian points out.

"It was some sort of volcanic gas mixture," Laura says. "I can smell it. Ugh. _Santo. _It smells like _sulfur._"

"I'm standing over _here,_" Victor says, moving to the other corner.

"Oh my _god, _Santo," Cessily says, wrinkling her nose. "That's absolutely revolting."

"Are those _scorch marks?_" Julian is staring at the wall behind Santo. Sure enough, the metal has been darkened slightly, as if subjected to extreme heat.

"Stop making such a big deal!" Santo grumbles. "It was just a fart."

"In an elevator," Nori says. "You could've waited till you were out of here."

"This is going to be a long ride," Cessily groans.

Sooraya closes her eyes.

"Yeah." Laura pauses, looks at Julian. "Did you get hurt?"

"One grabbed me toward the end." He shows her the gash in his upper arm, which is still bleeding, but less now.

She examines the wound critically. "I think you'll be okay...but we should patch it up ASAP."

"Yeah." He glances over at the green boy in the other corner, who is leaning against David and Forge. "I'm more worried about Vic, to be honest. He very freakin' nearly had his arm _ripped _off..."

"Victor, show me your arm," Laura says, moving forward. The boy holds up a very badly mangled limb, but his eyes are clear and his vitals normal. _Odd, _Laura thinks. "Can you move it?"

"No," he replies.

"Any feeling at all?" She reaches out and touches it very gently.

"None." He pauses. "Except that it's _really_ itchy. About all I can concentrate on right now."

"Weird." She pauses. "It looks...well..." she squints. "Julian, come here."

A moment later, he's peering at the arm as well. "Oh man," he says. "Vic...that doesn't look okay."

"What?!" the boy cries.

"It's darkening...see?"

Victor looks down at his hand and lets out another startled cry, this one wordless. _**"AAAGHHHHH!" **_

"Dude, that looks bad!" Santo says. "Might wanna put a bandaid on it or somethin'."

"No, a band-aid won't do anything," Laura says, her forehead wrinkling. "I think you're losing the arm, Victor. I'm sorry. But...why is it happening so _fast?" _

The limb is withering in her hands. A few moments later and it's completely black.

"Oh boy. I need to cut it off. Julian-hold him." _**SNIKT!**_

_**"NO!" **_Victor leaps backward in panic.

"Sorry," Julian says, his eyes turning green. "Laura's right. We can't let that spread."

_**"SANTO STOP THEM!" **_the boy yells, his voice breaking.

"Dude, you _can't!" _Santo bellows at Julian. "Don't let X get near him! That is-"

They all stop talking as the arm falls to the ground with a dull _**THUD!**_

_**"AAAAAHHHHHHHHGGGHHHHHHHH!" **_Victor slams into the wall of the elevator so hard it shakes.

_**"STOP HIM!" **_Laura orders.

Julian grabs him in a mental hold. "God _damn, _this is like some kind of horror movie!" he says.

"Oh man," Santo says, staring at the dead limb. "I wanna throw up."

"I want to go home and sob into my pillow," Cessily says, her eyes closed.

"Vic, just calm down!" Laura says in a commanding voice. "I need you to concentrate...can you do that for me?"

_**"I JUST LOST MY FREAKING ARM!" **_Victor screams.

She slaps him.

"Wha-" the boy blinks. "Did you just-"

"Yes, you were getting hysterical." She pauses. "I don't think this is normal."

"_None _of this is normal!" Julian fumes.

"No, I mean his arm falling off like that...I've never heard of that, ever." She pauses. "You have reptilian physiology, am I correct?"

"Uhh if you mean I'm like a lizard, then yeah." Victor looks at his missing arm, then wrenches his gaze away. "I can't-I can't-it's just gone-"

"I have a hunch," she says. "But I don't want to give you false hope. Just wait. We'll get out of here, and then take you to Elixir...he can heal that."

"Josh is-"

"Shut up, Julian." She glares at him.

"Okay, okay, geez."

At that moment, the elevator makes a loud _**DING! **_noise. Everyone falls silent as the doors begin to slowly slide open, revealing...


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Glad to hear people still enjoy this! I too cracked the hell up at a Sentinel running windows...reminds me of a good joke I heard a while after I wrote this...of the Korean missiles running on Windows 95 and that the threatened attack is on hiatus while they work with the Windows support team for a compatible solution...lmao!

* * *

**-15- **

* * *

An empty hallway.

"What the hell?" Julian asks.

Laura holds up a hand. "I don't think it's safe," she says. "Wait here, I'll check it out."

"I'm going with you!" he exclaims.

"No."

"You shouldn't go alone, Laura," David speaks up. "We need to stick together right now. If someone gets hurt-"

"I have a healing factor," she says. "You guys don't. You _stay_." She doesn't wait to argue but steps out of the elevator. "If anything happens...you go back down." With that she heads down the hallway...and just like that night in the mansion during the Purifier attack, she hears sounds behind her.

"Julian..." she begins, exasperated.

"No. I'm not letting you face this alone."

"I can take care of myself."

"And so can I." He pauses. "We should probably concentrate."

Laura looks back at him, her eyes full of anger, but before she can comment, the walls of the hallway explode as wires snake through. Before she even has time to be surprised, they wrap around her limbs and pull her through the busted plaster.

_"HEY!" _he shouts, running after her and leaping through the hole. He lands on a metal floor, and is about to get up when a mass of wires wrap around him, too. He catches a glimpse of Laura in the middle of an enormous mass of coils, her head whipping back and forth as she seeks to escape the cords covering her mouth.

"Grrr!" His eyes glow green, and a moment later the wires are forced away, snaking across the floor and back into the walls.

"You okay?" he pants.

Laura looks around. "A little shaken, but I'll live. What is this place?"

Julian sits up. "You tell me."

The room is enormous, with metal floors and walls, except for the plaster one they had entered through. It is entirely empty, save for a vast metal pillar in the center. "I hear electricity," she says.

"There's nothing in here," he replies.

They both look up.

"Holy shit." Julian pauses. "Laura...I think..."

"It's converting the entire building into something," she finishes for him.

The ceiling above them is churning with activity. Small robots are whizzing through the air, carrying pieces of metal and wires. Welding. They can see the curves of some enormous structure taking place, and it is connected to the pillar.

She grabs at his arm. "Oh my god. Julian!"

"It _can't_."

"Nimrod's rebuilding itself..._bigger._" He looks at her. "We have to get the others. David-David'll know what to do. Whatever happens...we can't let it finish."

"Agreed," Laura says.

**...**

"Oh my _god,_" David says, a few minutes later. He's now gazing up at the enormous body that Nimrod is building itself. The head appears to be complete, and they can see the empty squares of light that will make up its eyes.

"How are we going to stop it?" Julian asks impatiently.

"Well-no one's ever _stopped _Nimrod before, like I told you."

"There has to be a way!" Nori says.

"Jon, how do we kill it?" Laura asks.

"There'sh no way."

All eyes turn to the man leaning against Santo, his arm around the big boy's neck. He raises his head slightly. "There'sh no way," he says again, slurring his words as if he is drunk. "Jusht no way. This ish how it..ends."

"Come on!" she says. "You have one of the greatest minds in the world when it comes to robotics. You're like the Steve Rogers of machines."

"Who's Steve Rogers?" Cessily asks.

"Who the hell is _Jon?_" Nori asks, her nose wrinkles.

"Uh..." Laura pauses. "No one you need to know about. But the sentiment stands."

"I don't see how we can do anything," David says. "Nimrod's consciousness is stored in the Forge's servers right now. From what I could make out from talking to him, he was trying to power down the machine after having overridden the program...and for that it was hooked up to his workstation. Nimrod knew what he was doing. The explosion we heard was caused by circuits for the laboratory overloading and some sensitive materials being released into the air."

"So it must have planned this out," Laura says. "Like you said, it's storing itself...while it builds a better body. Why couldn't it use the one Jon made?"

"...limited processssesing..." Forge moans.

"I think he means that the robot he transferred Nimrod into was much smaller in terms of speed and processing power. Not enough to handle the kind of adaptive combat that the machine needs."

Julian frowns. "So Nimrod is stored somewhere in the building, right?"

"Yes," David answers.

"Then we simply destroy whatever it's storing itself in, right?"

"Well, if we can _get _to it," Nori points out. "Nimrod's not exactly a sitting duck."

"We can." Julian looks at Laura. "What do you think?"

She nods. "We've got to try."

"Dude, is the Jon-guy actually _Forge?!" _Santo blurts, like he's been struggling with this for a while.

"I'm pretty sure," Victor says. The boy seems surprisingly lucid for the trauma he's just been through in regards to his arm. Laura studies him but says nothing.

"Laura...why are you so bad with codenames?" Julian asks.

"Now's not really a great time to chat," she replies, but he guesses that she's evading the question. He doesn't comment.

"We need to plan this out," David says.

"Yeah." Julian pauses. "Where in the building would Nimrod have most likely stored itself, Forge?"

"Th' sherver...sherver roomsh," Forge replies. "Upstairsh...top floor...heat rishesh sho I...cold..."

"He might be passing out soon," Laura says, looking apprehensive. "That's _really_ not a good thing, guys. If he goes unconscious we might never get him back up, even in a hospital."

"Shit." Julian pauses, looks over at the green boy. "Victor...what if we find a safe spot for both of you and leave you with a communication thing?"

"I don't wanna be here by myself!" Victor replies. "It's _creepy!_"

"You are badly hurt," Sooraya says gently. "You would be in more danger fighting. Allah will protect you."

"That and me," Nori says. "I'll stay with them...and so will David. I need to protect him."

"We need you in the fight, Surge," Julian says. "Sorry."

"David can't fight!" she snaps.

"Nori, it's okay," David says. "I'll stay with them...and I'll have the communication link. I can figure something out if we get in trouble."

"But we need your help with planning," Julian says.

"There's that handy communication link you keep talking about," Laura comments, her eyebrows arched. He flushes. "Well-what if Nimrod jams the signal or something?"

"I am _not_ staying behind!" Victor says, sounding panicky.

"Look, how bout _I_ stay with them?" Santo grumbles.

"We need you too," Julian says.

"We'll be fine Nori," David reassures her. "And the X-links don't run on regular radio signals. Professor Xavier explained them to me once...they go through Cerebra."

"Oh, okay then." Julian looks relieved. "It's settled. Where should we leave them?"

"What's the area with the least electronics?" Laura asks Forge.

"...offish," he whispers.

"Where?"

"...down the hall...left..." his head droops to his chest.

"Damn it," Julian says. "Okay guys...let's get moving."

**...**

"They'll be fine, Nori," Cessily says soothingly, seeing that the other girl is hesitating by the closed office door, an uncertain look on her face.

"David's so vulnerable," Nori replies. "What if-I mean, students _with_ powers are dying constantly...how does he even stand a chance?"

Julian folds his arms. "That's what you get for taking a human as your boyfriend, Ashida," he says. "Then again, picking the winning side hasn't always been your strong point, has it?"

Nori's hands form fists.

Laura responds before she can do anything. "Julian, stop talking _right now._"

"What?" He raises an eyebrow in challenge. "You never had a problem with my opinions before."

"That was when my life didn't depend on your team operating at one hundred percent," she replies. "If you insist on sharing your 'opinions' before a fight, you are going to distract Nori, who might well be saving your ass in a few minutes."

Julian pauses. "I don't need anyone to save me."

"I'll remember that," she replies coolly.

He flushes. "I don't!"

"I said, I'll remember it."

Julian's lip curls. "Whatever."

"Guys, please..." Cessily sighs. "We're going into a fight that we can't guarantee we'll come out of in one piece. Can't we stay on good terms?"

"Oh, I don't care about this," Laura says. "I couldn't care less about what you children think of each other. But I don't want to see internal conflict bringing us down, that's pathetic. I'm just stating facts."

Julian glares at her. "Then stop being _involved_ in it."

"I think I'll sit this out in the office," Laura replies. "I have a better chance of surviving that way."

"Oh come on!" Cessily sounds desperate.

"Yes," Sooraya says quietly. "Please stop fighting. I thought we were here to avenge Jay."

This is what does it for Julian, and Nori. They exchange wavering looks.

"Fine," he says. "Forget what I said, Ashida."

"It's not important," Nori says.

Julian looks at Laura, but pointedly says nothing. She arches her eyebrows in response.

"Let's go," he says-and turns his back.

He storms down the hallway, and the others begin to follow him. Cessily sees that Laura is standing in place, and grabs her by the arm. "I'm sorry, Laura," she murmurs. "He's a great guy but...sometimes...he's just _so_ stupid."

"I noticed," the other girl replies stiffly.

"He'll come around, I promise. He's always good about big things...it's the little stuff that gets him, y'know? It's like...his problems are so big that he ignores them and focuses on what he _can_ handle. And unfortunately he handles it by...well..."

"Bullying," Laura summarizes. She thinks of Zander Rice, of Kimura...Daken...Harkins...and closes her eyes. "I've met a few in my day."

"I imagine."

The girls start walking.

"I think he's specifically hurt by the fact that you made him look stupid," Cessily whispers. "You have to be careful about using blunt logic where he's concerned."

"I'm not going to tiptoe around his paper castles," Laura responds. "If he wants to be around me, he needs to grow up. I don't have time for this kind of-_**SHIT!" **_

The latter part is an exclamation, because the floor has just given way without warning underneath the girls, and now they're grabbing on to each other and shrieking, the latter mostly on Cessily's part. The piece of floorboard that the metal girl has looped a tendril of her mercury around begins to break, but just as they are about to fall, the air around them turns dense and green-and they are lifted out.

"Huh, not only do I not need your help, but it looks like I'll be the one helping _you,_" Julian says to Laura, his voice full of sarcasm.

"For the love of god, please, just stop!" Cessily says as she and Laura tumble to the ground. "I'm pretty sure Sooraya meant _all fighting._"

"I'm just stating facts," he says coolly. "Like _she_ did."

Laura ignores this. "We need to pay attention. There was no sign that the floor was compromised. I think Nimrod is behind this...probably using the wires to move things around." She pauses. "I think we should go straight up."

Julian hesitates, then his expression turns serious. "You mean through the ceiling?"

"Yes."

"But...the wiring."

"Nori could absorb the electricity," Laura says. "I think if she does that, Nimrod will lose control. You could lift us up...and I can cut us a path, then either Santo or Sooraya could widen it."

"Or both," Julian agrees. "Nori, can you handle that?"

"I can try," she replies.

"Alright." He looks up at the ceiling. "Ready, guys?"

_**SNIKT! **_as Laura pops her claws. "As I'll ever be."

**...**

_**"OH MY GOD!" **_Nori shrieks, as they burst through the last level. The air around her is crackling blue, and her eyes are shining white.

_**"ITHINKI'MGOINGTOEXPLODEI'VEGOTSOMUCHENERGYRIGHTNO WHELP-"  
**_

"Hang on, Nori!" Laura says. "I hear electricity...must be the server room."

Julian sets everyone down in a gentle floating manner. She starts running as soon as her feet have hit the floor, and he follows, still in the air. Nori streaks after them, and the rest jog behind, their faces taut with expressions of intensity.

Laura skids to a stop at one door, then rears back on one leg and smashes it in with her booted foot to reveal a room full of computers, filled with a hot pink glow.

She stops abruptly, her mouth agape.

In the center of the room is the outline of Nimrod's magnified head, in energy. It turns toward her and speaks, but she hears nothing.

"There's no speakers up here," Julian says, arriving at the door. "Let's get smashing."

Before anyone can respond, Nori runs into the room and carries out her threat. Julian grabs Laura and raises a thick green shield as the servers explode in a hot, bluish-white glow. A thick plume of smoke emerges, and they try to peer through it.

"Nori?" he calls.

"I'm here," she replies, walking back to the door. Her hair is puffed up around her head and she's covered in soot. "Oh man, that was-"

_**SMASSSSHHHH!**_

Everyone is sent flying through the air as the walls are shattered, and then literally into the air outside, falling fast toward the pavement. Julian reacts just in time with a thought, catching them all in a mental trampoline of sorts. They stare up in astonishment at the enormous hand sticking out of the side of the building.

"Oh my _goddddd..." _Cessily trails off into a high-pitched squeal of terror.

_**"DAVID'S IN THERE!" **_Nori yells.

"Julian, we need to find them," Laura says. "Now. Take me back up there."

Surprisingly he doesn't argue, catching her under her armpits and increasing their altitude and speed. "Which side of the building?"

"Other side," she replies. "There was a window, so it won't be too hard. I think-"

They have just rounded the corner in time to witness Nimrod's other gigantic fist smashing through the side.

"Holy fuck," he says. "This is...Laura, are we going to die?"

"I don't know." She pauses. "_I_ won't, if that's any comfort."

"It is." He hesitates. "Cessily's right. _You _were right. I'm sorry."

"Me too." She pauses. "Now stop saying goodbye...or it _will_ be goodbye."

"Yeah." He flies them up against the side of the building. "Up or down?"

"Up. Two stories. _There, _see it? The window with the stick-on thermometer."

"I see it."

A moment later, Laura is smashing her fist through the window. "We've got trouble!" she says, to David, who is giving her a questioning look. "The whole building's about to come down!"

"Sure feels like it," he says. Victor is making squeaking noises.

Julian picks up the two boys and Forge into his mental hold, then speeds back toward the ground, his expression grim. "Hope you had insurance," he says to the latter, who is conscious again.

"Don' worry 'bout it," Forge says, in a tired way. "Beat Nimrod...worth it all. Jus...machines."

"We should get in touch with the X-men," Laura says. "Julian...do you have your cell phone?"

"Yeah," he says. "It's in the pocket behind my-" before he can finish she's digging at his X-badge. He giggles involuntarily, then realizes all the people he is carrying toward the ground are staring at him.

"It _tickles!_" he says defensively.

"Whatever." Laura has his phone out now. "Who's numbers you have?"

"Frost," Julian replies. "Use Facetime."

"Siri! _Call Emma Frost!" _Laura shouts at the phone.

It starts dialing immediately. Frost picks up on the third ring, looking irritated. "_Hellion, you are hereby suspended-" _

Laura holds the phone toward the building, and Frost pauses.

_"Oh, dear."_

"That's Forge's quarters!" Julian yells. "Nimrod took over the entire server network and-"

_"I'm sorry...did you say-" _

_**"NIMROD!" **_Laura shouts. "It came to Jon for repairs and he tried to destroy it...but instead downloaded it into his network. It started building itself a new form."

_"I am contacting Cyclops right now," _Frost responds. _"Get yourself to safety. Do not engage Nimrod." _

"A lot of innocent people are going to get hurt if we don't!" Julian protests.

_"We will not be long, about a half hour-"_

"That's not fast enough!" He grits his teeth. "Siri..._end call." _

_"Ju-" _Frost begins to say, but her picture disappears.

They reach the ground, and Julian sets them down again. Nori is at David's side in an instant, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I thought-I thought-" she babbles.

"Shh, I'm okay," the boy says.

Julian looks over at Laura. "We need to do this, right?"

"Right." She pauses. "The only hope in hell we have is attacking it _now..._because I think it's kind of half-finished. If we let it mature all the way, we're dead."

"Yeah." Julian swallows, then pulls her into his arms. "I hope this isn't it," he whispers in her ear.

She rests her head for a moment on his shoulder. "I trust you to lead us to glory," she says, with a slight smirk. She feels him grin against her neck, and his arms tighten. "I love you," he says.

"I love you, too." She hesitates. In the background they hear more noises of destruction, as Nimrod begins to swing it's arms. "We better get cracking."

"Hang on." He tilts her head back and kisses her hard, and for a moment she finds herself unconcerned about Nimrod.

"Awww, look at them!" Cessily says, on the sidelines.

"Dude, that's gross! Get a _room!" _Santo yells.

"What the-_Santo! _Shut up!" she snaps.

"What? I'm telling you, I find it gross and inappropriate!" he argues. "Just coz we're all about to die-"

Cessily puts her hands on her hips and fixes the big rock boy with a steady glare. "Santo, if you do _anything _to discourage this, I will _end _you." She looks like she means business.

Santo is silent for a moment. "Okay, but I get a goodbye kiss too," he demands.

"Victor would be more than happy," she says airily.

_**"EWWWW!" **_Victor gags.

_**"DUDE THAT'S SICK!" **_Santo shouts, outraged. "He's a guy and he's got that gross lizard tongue!"

"Well, _I'm _sure not giving you one, and it looks like all the other girls are taken. Well, besides Sooraya...but..." Cessily grins at him. "Maybe if you weren't so _immature _and _disgusting._"

"I am _not _immature!" Santo argues. "Out of all of us, I'd say I'm the most stable one!"

"Are you on _crack?_" Victor asked. "You act like a five year old. Except for when you act like a _toddler._"

"Please," Sooraya says wearily.

"Mmmph." Laura pushes Julian back. "I'm sorry, the children are killing the mood."

"I noticed." He glares at Santo. "Dude, what the hell?"

Santo looks away guiltily.

_**BOOOOM!**_

They all look up and silently witness as the fifty-story Nimrod steps free of its casing.

"It was a pleasure knowing you guys," Julian says finally.

"Pleasure was all mine," Santo replies.

"Same," Cessily says.

"I'm sorry we didn't get along better," Nori offers.

"It's okay. I'm sorry I was a dick," Julian says.

"Think Frost will be mad at me?" Laura asks. "If I let all of you die at once?"

"I think she'll be more angry at herself," Cessily says.

"For Jay," Sooraya says quietly.

"For Jay," Julian agrees.

"For Jay." David sounds solemn.

"For Jay." Nori's eyes glow white-blue. "Let's _do _this."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** In case you haven't already, check out my other newish fic "Adamant"-a mainstream universe story told from Laura's point of view! Exciting right?! I KNOW! Go read it already! ^^

Also yes, Jon is Forge. I go to comicvine . com for all my character questions...my handy dandy research tool for my stories. I would be so lost without it!

Speaking of research, I had fun researching this chapter. I watched youtube videos of a certain weapon being fired. :o)

* * *

**-16-  
**

* * *

"Santo, get me up to it's head!" Laura shouts, gazing up at the enormous pink figure and it's glowing red eyes. "Just like the Sentinel during the attack on the train, when Peter threw me. Maybe I can take out the CPU."

"It'll adapt," David warns. "That's what makes it so hard to fight. It literally has an electronic brain, and at least a portion of its body is this futuristic stuff called Smart Adamantium. It'll put it wherever it's needed most."

"My Adamantium might not be smart, but it sure is stubborn," she says. _**SNIKT! **_"We've got to at least try. Get me up there."

"Laura..." Julian begins apprehensively.

She closes her eyes. "No."

He swallows. "Be careful...that's all."

Laura says nothing. Santo looks at the other boy. "Should I?"

"Don't ask _him!_" she says. "We don't have time. Just do it."

A few moments later she is airborne and rushing toward the head of the Nimrod unit, claws ready at her sides and hair streaming behind her like some kind of banner. She bears her teeth, prepares, pops her toe claws with another _**SNIKT!**_ and then hits the surface of the robot with a loud _**BANG! **_and stabs at it with her right hand.

For one glorious moment it works: she feels her claws sinking through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Then they encounter massive resistance, and she begins to lose her hold. And then she's falling off, into the air, falling, falling...

_**SLAMMM!**_

"...ahhhckkk..." Laura stares up at the Nimrod, now trapped in between its enormous, unyielding metal hands as they crush her ribcage.

She can't breathe.

_"Hang on Laura, I'll-" _Julian's voice, from far away. She closes her eyes and swings her legs forward, into the undersides of the Nimrod's wrists. If it were human, the tendons would be severed and it would release its grip, but she doesn't expect anything to happen. So she is surprised when she feels the enormous hands release her. A moment later she lands on the pavement in a crouch, just in time to watch her teammates starting their attack.

Sooraya sweeps toward it in a massive cloud of abrasive sand, Nori in a haze of electricity, and Julian in a field of green. The others (Cessily and Santo) run toward its ankles, where they will probably do little damage. She looks back at Forge, who is leaning against a car.

"So Jon...what's our best chances at taking it out?"

"...the fact that it's diluted it's material with that of my building," Forge says, pulling himself upright a little more. "You need to destroy the extra. That will...make it...a lot...smaller. But I'm not sure what to do beyond that."

Laura pauses, arches her eyebrows. "Can you think of a way to amplify the explosion of a bazooka?"

"What?" Forge looks confused.

She reaches onto her back and removes the firearm. "This was given to me as a gift. I brought along a couple refills...ten, to be exact."

He pauses, then starts grinning. "We'll need some aircraft fuel..."

Laura looks at her borrowed X-wing. "I think I know where to get some."

A few minutes later she's shouldering the device, ready to go. She looks up to the fight and sees that the robot is trying to hit her friends with bright pink light so quick that there is no immediate sound but rather delayed rumbles. Like those of thunder.

"If that hits them...they're dead," Forge says, following her gaze. "It's pure plasma."

"Well, hopefully I can hit it first," Laura says. "Can I borrow the communication link, David?"

David -who has been watching this exchange silently- slaps his pockets, then withdraws an X-shaped disc. She takes it and depresses the center. "Julian?"

A few moments pass.

"_Kind of busy here!" _

"I need you all to get away from the machine," she says.

_"What?! Are you crazy?!" _

"Yeah, and I have a bazooka." She grins.

Silence for a few moments. She can hear him in the distance shouting to everyone to clear off. She waits, knowing that people in a fight often don't hear or forget to follow orders. Sooraya responds first, then Cessily. Nori and Santo take the longest, but then they are clear, and Julian sweeps down beside her and lands. "You think this will work?"

"Well, Forge said it might blow off all that extra crap from the building." She pauses. "Besides, you _know_ how much I've wanted to fire this thing!"

He nods.

The Nimrod is starting to advance toward them. The ground is shaking with each step it takes, and the air is filled with the sound of rattling metal. Laura also advances, then drops to one knee and angles the firearm upward, peers down through the sighting scope...although really, it's hard to miss a fifty-story-tall robot who happens to be a brilliant pink color.

She grips the handle, wraps her finger around the trigger, pauses, then depresses it.

_SHOOP!_

A few moments of a whistling noise...and then: _**KAAA-BOOOOOOOM!**_

The ground shakes from the impact, and the air explodes into orange flames, debris and smoke, which does not touch them because Julian has had the foresight to erect a shield around himself, Laura and the non-combatants.

"_**OH MY GOD!" **_he exclaims, grinning.

_**"THAT WAS SO COOL!" **_Laura shouts back.

"Do you have more?" he demands.

"Of course. Forge and I rigged them up, soaked them in fuel from the X-wing so it causes that huge flame cloud." She pauses, eyes Julian and notes his hopeful expression. "...do you want to fire it?" she asks.

A moment passes.

"Yes," he admits.

Laura's face darkens and she clutches the bazooka protectively. Julian gives her an impatient look. After a few moments she offers it to him in a reluctant manner. "Make sure you get a good grip on it," she advises. "And sight down the barrel first. And aim for something big, like the middle of the body. Where the fire is."

"Okay," he agrees, taking the tube from her.

She holds up another missile and inserts it into the end of the tube, then backs away. "Have fun," she says.

Julian copies her earlier actions in positioning himself. He takes slightly longer to aim it, but once he is set he doesn't hesitate on pulling the trigger. The resulting explosion shakes the ground again, and Laura hears the sound of glass shattering. Car alarms go off. He is knocked over on his behind by the first air pressure wave, but he's grinning from ear to ear.

"Give it back!" Laura says, eager to go again. "There's still stuff to shoot, right?"

Forge peers at the massive flame cloud. "Yes, I can still see its silhouette. I think it might be smaller. Good work."

_**"DUDE!" **_Santo is running toward them, followed by the others. "What the hell is that thing?"

"I haven't named him yet," Laura says, lovingly caressing the barrel with her fingertips. "But I've never felt like this for anything else."

"Can I shoot it?" the big boy asks.

_**"NO!" **_she exclaims, clutching it protectively. "It's mine."

"Oh c'mon. Please?"

"No."

"But-" Santo looks really depressed.

"Oh c'mon, Laura." Julian pauses. "_Everyone_ should get a chance to fire a bazooka once in their lifetime. I mean, it's like a right of passage or something."

She considers this. "But he was so annoying earlier."

"I'm _sorry!" _Santo exclaims. "Dude, if you let me try I swear I'll never get on your guys' case again. I swear!"

"Well..." Laura looks over at Julian. "Think he means that?"

"Only one way to find out."

She sighs, then holds out the firearm to Santo. "So make sure you hold it tight and..."

Two minutes later, Cessily and Nori have each had a turn firing the bazooka, and Laura and Julian have gone again. Nimrod has remained in position about forty feet away, unable to move under the constant barrage. Sirens blare in the distance.

"I wonder if we could hold it off long enough for the X-men to get here," Julian says thoughtfully, when they are down to the last missile. "Forge...could you _improvise_ some explosives?"

"Well..." the inventor rubs his chin. The resting has done him a lot of good. Over the past fifteen minutes he's improved drastically and now shows little sign of concussion. "We _do_ have aircraft fuel...and I think there's a hunting store around the corner that sells gunpowder. David...if you , Laura could get these ingredients..." the master inventor starts rattling off a long list, and the pair takes off running.

Julian stays around in case Nimrod restarts the assault. He becomes agitated waiting for Laura, checks the time on his phone, anxiously watches the giant flame cloud for signs of advancement, but their opponent is still. He doesn't know how much damage they're actually doing, but he reasons that doesn't matter: if they can keep it off till the real X-men get here...

Finally Laura returns, with a wide grin...and an armful of grenades. _"I found an army surplus store!" _she says excitedly.

"Oh man," Santo says, looking equally excited. "This is gonna be so awesome. This is gonna be _so_ _**AWESOME!" **_

"I have an idea," Julian says.

"Did it hurt?" Laura asks.

He scowls at her. "No, seriously. Listen up..."

_**"REBOOTINGERRORREBOOTINGNIMROD 3.0 ONLINE." **_comes a booming voice from the flame cloud. _**"MUTANTS DETECTEDTHIS UNIT WILL EXTERMINATEIN T-1 MINUTE."**_

"We don't have much time," Forge says, in a worried tone.

"It won't take long at all," the boy replies.

**...**

"Ready?" Julian asks, a minute later.

All of the kids plus Forge are holding grenades in one hand and the pin loop in the other.

Laura nods.

"Go!"

He pulls his pin, and everyone else follows his lead. They throw them up into the air.

_**"EXTERMINATION COMMENCING!" **_Nimrod announces.

Julian catches them with a thought and hurls the mass of grenades at the pink robot- then ducks. The resulting explosion is so loud that no one hears it, but everyone feels it, as they are flung in various directions. Nearby cars are overturned, and the X-wing is slammed back by a few feet. He lands on his front and skids a few feet, coming to rest beside Victor, who is yelling loudly, but he can't make out what he's saying because his ears are ringing.

He sits up.

_**"THAT WAS AWESOME!" **_he yells, only dimly aware that he is speaking.

Laura shouts something to him. He shrugs, taps his ear, shrugs again. She points to the Nimrod unit -he looks- and starts.

Nothing has happened, except for the fact that the robot is now slightly larger than Santo, all the material it had extracted from the building having been destroyed.

It's moving closer, and charging for an attack, the triangle-shaped glass of its chest lighting up with plasma energy

"Oh shit," is all he can say, because it's happening very fast. He doesn't even have time to think...the machine is upon him, and he can feel the vibration of its robotic voice through the ground as it announces that it is about to kill him. He sees his death reflected in its red, soulless eyes, the death he had sensed was waiting for him when they'd begun this fight. He doesn't even bother trying to raise a mental shield, because he knows it would be futile. Just as he sees the pink wave roaring toward him, something plows into his side. Hard. Hard enough to send him flying again.

_**"UGH!" **_He hits the side of the X-wing, shakes his head, forces himself to get up, and looks at Nimrod. The others are dancing around it now, and the fight is really taking off. Nori is a blue blur, Cessily is wrapping herself around its head from behind, Santo is pummeling it with his fists. Sooraya is whipping around it in a cloud, trying to find an entry point. He leaps to his feet and charges in, slamming into the side of the robot and knocking it backwards with the sudden momentum. His shoulder throbs from the impact and he barely prevents himself from crashing into the cement with a last minute loop, but he grits his teeth, ready for more.

Nimrod's attention is on him again, he can tell by the way the robot has rotated. The chest is lighting up again. Then Santo uppercuts Nimrod in the face, and a few bolts fly off. The robot responds by whipping back to him and releasing the charge-and the boy explodes into a cloud of dust and rubble, amidst screams from Cessily.

Sooraya snakes around and turns back into herself, covers her mouth.

_**"GRRR!" **_Julian feels a surge of rage that betrays words...and a desire to cause irreparable harm to Nimrod. He casts his gaze around the parking lot for something to hurl at it. His eyes land on the X-wing. He couldn't...could he?

_Never know until you try, _he reminds himself. He reaches out with both his physical hands and his mind and wraps his mental fingers around the body of the aircraft. It groans...he can _feel_ the metal...then it budges...then it's in the air, and he shouts out a warning to his friends.

And then he flips the twenty-five-thousand pound jet.

As soon as he lets go of it, he gets a massive headache. The blocks prevent actions like these, and when he gets near the upper limit of his powers, the pain becomes unbearable. He staggers backwards and just gets to see that his friends and teammates have scampered out of the way in time before he falls to the pavement, feeling like his brain has been ripped out of his skull. His body tremors, in slight seizures since his vital organs aren't getting enough energy. Then he starts to regulate again, and the cramp eases.

"Neeeed...to..." he says, his fingers reaching at the air for something that he's not certain about. A few moments later Cessily is at his side, taking his hand, her face full of concern. "Oh my god! Julian, your face...you're bleeding like crazy, are you-"

He can hear her now. "'M-'M-I'm okay...I'm okay" he gasps, spitting out blood from his tongue which he had bit. "Did I...get 'im?"

"I think so," she says. "It's pinned under the X-wing..."

"That won't stop it...for long." Julian's eyebrows draw together. "Santo-"

She closes her eyes. "He didn't reform. I don't know..."

A rumble in the air catches both of their attentions. They look up and see the Blackbird lowering in the courtyard, signifying the arrival of the X-men.

He closes his eyes in relief. "Thank god," he mumbles. "We're not cut out for this."

"Tell me about it." Cessily pauses. "Where's Laura?"

"Huh?" Julian starts, sits up. "She's not with you guys?"

"I haven't seen her since we threw the grenades."

He wipes the blood out of his eyes onto the back of his arm, then looks around the parking lot. Finally he sees her, still lying near where the X-wing used to be before he had flipped it. From when she'd shoved him out of the way. He feels a cold chill go down his spine, and he scampers to his feet and runs toward her, his gait uneven. "Laura?" he asks.

Then he hears the whimpering, and is afraid to look over her shoulder. He does anyway, and recoils with a noise of horror that does not take the form of language. She's been destroyed, completely disfigured down the left side of her body, as if someone has taken a knife and peeled away everything, right down to the bone in several areas. Even some of the skeleton showing is charred and blackened. The right side of her body is only little better, melted and twisted. He sees that she's blending into the pavement.

"Oh my god!" Cessily says, jogging up behind him. "Oh, Julian, I'm so-"

"You guys will be alright now," he says, not really aware of speaking. "I'll see you in New York."

"What...but you can't fly the jet-" she pauses, reaches out, puts her hand on his shoulder. He brushes it off, reaches out and lifts the melted heap into the air, into his arms.

"She won't make it."

He looks up toward the sound of footsteps heading in his direction-familiar heel clicks. Ms. Frost, her cape floating around her and a concerned expression on her face. It is she who has spoken, her tone serious and her expression even more so. "She's dying. I can sense her fading away. I'm sorry, we were in Colorado...we came as quickly as we-"

"Undo the blocks," he orders her.

"No." She gives him a stern look. "We put them there for a reason."

"Undo the blocks, _now._"

Ms. Frost hesitates, wavers, and he knows she is reconsidering, probably sensing how he feels about it.

She looks at Laura's one good eye, which is half open and glazed with whatever horrors she's experiencing. She can't possibly be conscious.

"You will come see me _immediately _after," Ms. Frost instructs firmly. "That is not under debate."

He nods slightly.

"This is going to hurt," she warns him, then closes her eyes. "Hopefully it will not kill you given that you are already injured. You have a mild subdural hematoma already."

_**"GGNCCK!" **_he yelps, his head snapping back. Cessily whips around to look at him.

"What's happening?" she asks.

But he is already gone, the pavement around him blackened and crumbling.

_**KRRRAAAACCCKKKK! **_as the sound waves of his departure hit the air.

**...**

Julian is afraid to close his eyes...because if he does he's going to accidentally kill people.

He's never moved so fast in his life. It hadn't been this strong before. Yes, it had been strong and overwhelming, and they'd put in the blocks one afternoon in the Headmaster's office one afternoon -Frost and Professor Xavier and Headmistress Summers- because of something they were afraid of happening. They wouldn't tell him what it was. He wonders if this increased strength is a result of all his practice at the lower levels he'd been restricted to while at the school. He wonders if this is what they were afraid of, because he's afraid, too. Very afraid.

He's literally ripping up the air as he passes through it. He can't see ahead quickly enough to aim, and the fact that it is dark out isn't helping. He is dimly aware of passing what might be a Boeing 747, and feels a trickle of horror, hoping he didn't hurt it. He can't tell, because the energy field extends around him for at least ten feet, blowing everything out of his way like he's travelling in some kind of a wormhole from a SciFi movie.

_Go back the way we came, _he reminds himself. He looks down at Laura's face. Her eye has slid shut a little more. "Keep breathing," he whispers. "I'm trying...I'm trying."

His eyes slip down further, over her shoulder, to the clouds below. And then at the landscape. That's not going to be any help, because it changes from one instant to the next, from mountains to plains to cities and everything in between. He just has to rely on instinct. Which isn't all that reliable, seeing as he feels muddled and confused from everything he's put his brain through recently.

A few minutes pass, and then he sees the ocean rushing up to meet them. He feels an enormous wave of relief pass over him. He pauses for a moment to orientate himself. He recognizes, finally, that they are hovering somewhere over the shore of New Jersey. He's been here on field trips. It's sunset. _Almost there. _

He turns up the coast and thinks, _Go, _just one word but incredibly powerful. He's in New York City within twenty seconds, and then he's hurtling into Westchester, and there's the school rushing up at him. He tries desperately to slow down but it's like trying to hit the brakes at top speed with a car. There is a delay. He crashes through wall after wall and then impacts with the floor, completely destroying it as pieces of wood fly into the air around him and into him, under his skin as his shield finally disintegrates, flickering like a dying fluorescent light. A small fire starts up from the heat against the flammable material, but he's not concerned about that right now. The fire alarm goes off and so do the sprinklers, which will take care of it. He runs into the infirmary, where Josh is lying, staring at the ceiling, lost in the dark void he's wallowed in since killing Stryker. His skin is literally black.

_**"GET UP!" **_Julian roars. He can't hear his own voice but he can feel the vibrations, and some kind of smoke or fog comes out of his mouth with his words as if he's in a very cold environment.

The other boy starts, curls up slightly and asks something that he can't hear.

_**"HEAL HER!" **_he demands. _**"NOW!"**_

_I can't heal!_ Josh protests, and he can see his lips forming the words. He must see something in the other boy's face, because almost immediately after saying this he scrambles upward, grabs onto Laura's temples...and starts doing exactly what he said he couldn't do. Healing. There is a soft golden glow. Julian watches as her skin starts smoothing on the right side, and as the bones on the left repair themselves then cover over with fibers of muscle, fat, and finally skin.

Laura opens her eyes, blinks, once, twice. "-striped _parakeets!_" she says, then looks confused. "What? What's happening? What-"

"I did it!" Josh exclaims. He's now golden colored, the black having faded into small spots in his skin, like those on a Dalmatian. "I did it! I healed you!" He breaks into a wide grin.

"Don't mean to rain on your parade...but I was hurt?" Laura pauses. "You can put me down."

Julian's arms twitch, and then his knees buckle as his eyes close. They both fall to the ground, and she struggles up right away, but he lies on the ground, his face devoid of expression. And caked with blood.

"What's up with _him?_" she asks.

"Something major," Josh says. "I've never seen him wigging out so bad. Here...he looks hurt..." he slips off the stretcher and touches the other boy's forehead momentarily. There is a brief glow, then he removes his fingers. "Wow, he had a brain injury."

"Ouch," Laura says. She looks down at Julian for a few moments. "Should I scrape him off the floor?" she asks.

"Dunno," Josh says, shrugging.

"I should, shouldn't I? That would be the right thing to do here. I think." Laura nods to herself.

"Probably." The other boy hesitates, glancing up at her appreciatively. "You're not really dressed, you know."

Laura looks down at herself and gives a start, then covers herself with her arms. "Crap, I'm sorry...clothes must've been blown off. Stupid explosion."

"No need to be sorry." Josh grins. "I _love _those kinds of explosions."

"I'm sure." Laura looks around the room, then picks up the sheet from the boy's stretcher. "Gonna borrow this for a little bit, if you don't mind."

"Be my guest." Josh pauses. "Who were you guys fighting?"

"Nimrod," she replies, wrapping the sheet around her body and tucking it in toga-style. "I have no real recollection of what happened after like five minutes of the fight, probably because I was a piece of hamburger."

"It was pretty bad, I won't lie," the boy says.

Laura grunts as she heaves Julian over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Josh stares at her.

"I'm kind of strong," she explains. "Well, see ya...thanks for the heal."

"...come back anytime," he replies absently.

She pats the unconscious boy's behind. "Oh, I'm sure we will," she promises, then carries him out the door with Josh gazing after her, his eyebrows raised as far as they will go.


End file.
